TFP White Energon II : More Than Just Blue and White Rewrite
by AriaChronos
Summary: Sequel to The Tales of White Energon Girl. Someone in Team Prime openly cared and accepted Aria despite everything. Aria herself was reluctant, not only because of differences but also similarities. Can the power of love surpass everything? Rated T to be safe. Rewritten because I messed up big time. I only own my OC's, nothing more.
1. Operation : Breakdown

**AriaChronos is coming back. As I told in my summary, this is a rewrite of my second and third sequel. My story didn't get the response I was expecting, so I thought of whole makeover. After studying my own stories, I figured that I wanted to change most parts, and that included changing the second sequel as well. I still kept some important things in play though. **

**I just hoped this time I did a better job than before. Reviews are welcomed. Enjoy.**

**Right, before I forget; **

**I don't own Transformers Prime and the quotes in here, were borrowed from certain source. And, English isn't my tongue. **

* * *

_"Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go, they merely determine where you start"_

* * *

It had been 2 weeks since Aria was taken under Optimus' wing and became newest addition to Team Prime. The human authorities were first skeptical about the girl's decision. She was still a part human, and her family was still unknown. But for Aria, it meant nothing for her anymore.

When Aria possessed great skill in weaponry, she greatly lacked in combat. Which was why, Arcee was appointed to train the new member, and Optimus wasn't going to deploy Aria in any mission before she had fighting skill at least in decent level.

"You have to know, when to dodge, when to defend," Arcee instructed, as they were practicing close combat in the open desert close to their base, "Otherwise you can end up in great mess."

She swung her moderate swift kick. Optimus had instructed the older femme had to do the training step by step. But, her student was proven to be quick study and in very short time they could advance to higher level.

"HIYAH!" Aria dodged the kick, and delivered a punch of her own.

"HAH!" Arcee delivered her last punch, which was deflected away. And it was the end of their training session, "Okay, that's all for today. You have improved greatly since yesterday, but your timing is still bit off. But that matter aside, you're doing very good," the blue motorcycle placed her hands in her hip, she was very satisfied by the training. "Tomorrow, be prepared, because I'm going to increase the pace."

"Yes ma'am!" Aria saluted her coach, she was rather exhausted but very pleased. "Thank you so much, Miss Arcee."

"Aria, I think I've told you before, don't call me 'miss'," Arcee said.

"Oh, should I go with 'coach' or 'master'?" the sea-green femme asked back.

"No, that's not what I mean. We're teammates, we don't need to call each other that formal," Arcee reasoned, she wasn't used yet to the little girl's formal calling.

"I can't do that. You're my senior, and my coach. Not to mention, I can see why Arianna took liking you in instant. Because you're freaking cool!" Aria screeched exitedly, she knew that Arianna was a big fan of the blue femme. But recently, she was also becoming Arcee's biggest fan.

"Fine, fine, whatever suits you," Arcee admitted defeat, being idolized by someone else was rather good however. Although, the 'Miss Arcee' sounded more like nickname than a honorific, "We should go back to base," she transformed to motorcycle.

"Okay," Aria reverted back to human and hopped on Arcee. On route to base, she thought back about her progress, and mentally calculating her errors and what should be done to correct it. She wanted to pass the training as soon as possible, so she would be suitable enough to join mission with the other Autobots. Aria didn't want to spend all her day sitting in the base.

"Bulkhead is out the base for today. Guess we will have a peace moment without him booming all over. I can't stand that giant green's singing anymore..." Arcee noted.

"When he is in combination with Miko, alright..." Aria chuckled.

"And Bumblebee, guess he's already being corrupted too much by those two," Arcee said. "Are the normal bots left just me, Optimus, and you?"

"How about Ratchet?" Aria asked.

"You still don't know him yet, girl. After all, scientists aren't always 'normal guys'."

When they arrived at the base, Aria immediately found her favorite friend sitting on the couch. "Miko!" she ran to the stairs up to the couch area.

"Aria!" Miko was very excited to see her too. They already became close friends, as in fact they were girls. "You were doing some robotic warrior training again?" Miko showed a pose of boxing.

"You bet! Oh, Optimus!" Aria spotted Optimus in middle of the room, and waved to him with a big smile.

"Hello Aria," then, Optimus replied her with a wide smile on his own. "How is your day?"

"Fine, always fine," the ponytail giggled. "How about you? You're not going for mission or some kind any soon? Because if you need it, I'm right here at least to provide you for cover up."

"It's all depending on how you developed your skill," the Prime replied. "Remember, I do not intend to bring any under training member into dangerous battlefield."

"Well, I got it. Now, what are you doing, Miko?" Aria began to chat with Miko.

"Arcee," Optimus walked to Arcee, expecting some reports as usual.

"I can't say anything else except she's doing very fabulous," Arcee reported the training, "There are still some points missing, I think she's suitable enough for mission. After all, students can learn much faster through real experience."

"While you have the point Arcee, it is much better for Aria to take things slowly," Optimus said. "I want her to enjoy her youth time she much deserved, after going through very rough life."

_I think she's doing just fine_, Bumblebee beeped.

"The hard part is always letting go of tragic time, but..." Arcee glanced to Aria and Miko talking about girl's magazines. "She's tough little girl," she allowed herself to smile, she was fond of her student already. Arcee knew how it felt to go through hellish life, and how difficult it was to bounce back to normal. Aria, who was much younger than the blue femme, went through even more hellish life, and she was able to go through it. "As her mentor, I guess there's no harm in giving her a try."

"Fighting with Deception is not what I consider as 'trial', it is a real life and death situation," the Prime shook his head.

"Optimus, you already know that fact, then you still refuse a promising and powerful new addition of firepower?" Ratchet joined in the conversation. "She's still as young as sparkling, but the fact that she's a White Cybertronian making her our most powerful asset, second to you of course."

"While we clearly have to obtain all possible resources in order to win the war, I do not wish to make unnecessary sacrifice, especially from the one who is so young," Optimus didn't move his optics from the girls. "Besides, I am taking her under my wing, not under my order."

"So, you're not going to deploy her any soon?" Arcee folded her arms, she was disappointed. "Shame it, she has the potential, and it will go to waste."

"Old friend, I knew it is already your habit, leaving a youngling behind at home then going out to fight," Ratchet pointed out. He waited until Optimus got the point, but the latter didn't. So, the medic resumed. "_Your _sparkling, to be exact."

Optimus flinched, "No, it's not that way. Arianna was very young, and she was my daughter, I had the duty as her father to protect her," his expression clouded again when he thought about Arianna.

"Then, what's the difference with this one? You kept her inside almost all whole day," Arcee added.

"Not to mention, when the war began, almost all young sparklings received the military training when they were just few cycles old, because we were almost ran out of soldiers. Bumblebee here was the good example," the CMO pointed to the yellow scout. "But Arianna didn't, because _you _didn't want it."

Optimus finally knew where they were going. "You have to know that I have no intend to bring back the past that I've lost long ago. But because of the past itself, I don't want to repeat the same mistake, being unable to protect the one I care about."

"Oh, so what makes this girl so special to you?" Arcee pressed further.

The Prime was silent for few moments. "Arianna entrusted her to me," he simply said.

"Is that all?" the blue femme inquired further, as she knew the Prime didn't tell the whole truth.

The Prime reflected back to the day when he first met Aria. It was their first encounter, but something just attracted him to her. Optimus' caring nature was called out when he heard about Aria's horrible life. Plus, Arianna treasured her, she named the human girl after her. And, there was something more than that...

"Optimus, do we have to mention that the hints are everywhere?" Arcee said. "You're after all, predictable."

"Old friend, if you want it, you can just tell her," Ratchet said. "I can say it, she clearly likes you. Besides, it's not healthy for you to leave that empty spot inside your spark."

"It's already my destiny to carry the burdens from all of those who had suffered from our waging war," the red mech closed his optics. "And in the top of that, Aria has human family out there."

"She already said it before, she doesn't care anymore even to the point she told Agent Fowler to stop searching," Arcee said. "I agree with Ratchet here. You're always taking burden of watching the others. Don't you know you're paying so little attention to yourself?"

Before Optimus could reply, Agent Fowler drove into the base with his car. "Prime," he said as he got out from his car. "I'm sorry for coming without notification before, but this is emergency."

"Special Agent Fowler, is there a problem?" Optimus politely asked.

* * *

But Bulkhead's situation wasn't peaceful at all. He was in middle of deserted town, and tumbling with Breakdown.

"Bulkhead, imagine you and I bumping into each other in the middle of nowhere while tracking a stray Energon signal," Breakdown remarked after he smacked Bulkhead into building.

"Yeah, Breakdown. It must be your lucky day!" Bulkhead hissed.

When the two nemesis met each other, there would be messy showdown. Both of them engaged in extreme pushing.

"Where's your pet human? How about when I'm finished with you, I pay her a visit?" Breakdown suggested.

Eventually Breakdown hit Bulkhead's ire spot. That caused Bulkhead to tackle Breakdown with all his might.

"So, the wrecker's got a soft spot," Breakdown cackled.

Bulkhead deployed his wrecking ball and tried to smash Breakdown. But the blue truck just avoided it. Taking his chance, Breakdown brought out his hammer, and smashed Bulkhead like thousands pounds of bricks. Bulkhead lied flat and was half conscious.

"As much as I'll miss our little reunions, hammer time," Breakdown decreed when he was about to deliver the killing blow.

Apparently, he didn't get a chance, because out of nowhere an electric shot knocked Breakdown unconscious. There were copters landing in that place shortly afterward. When you were talking about helicopters and masked goons, there was only one. In the form of MECH. Silas hopped down of his copter and stared at two unconscious bots.

"Sir, we only have the resources to transport one," one of his agents reported to him.

"Take the victor," Silas instructed.

* * *

"_Marco...MARCO...!" _

"Miko," Bulkhead came as Miko's voice filled his comm link.

"_AAAAGH!__ You're supposed to say polo!_"

When Bulkhead looked his surrounding, Breakdown was gone. He knew that Breakdown wouldn't miss any single chance to finish him. So, why Breakdown just left him alive? Bulkhead knew that something wasn't in place.

"Miko, let Ratchet know I need a GroundBridge," Bulkhead requested.

* * *

"Engaging the enemy on your own was foolish, Bulkhead," Optimus reminded Bulkhead.

"Breakdown jumped me, I knew I could take him...AUGH!" Bulkhead groaned in pain when Ratchet tended to his injured arm.

"Stay still," Ratchet instructed.

"Can I just have one injection from Aria and be done with it?" Bulkhead asked.

"Minor case of injury does not require White Energon. Remember, Aria also needs it," Ratchet reminded him.

"But we should see the other guy! Right, Bulk?" Miko asked excitedly.

"Uh…yeah. About that," Bulkhead started nervously.

"You DIDN'T torch him?" Miko pouted.

"Not exactly. I figured you all did," Bulkhead said to his teammates, "When I came to, Breakdown was just…gone. I remember hearing a copter. Maybe it was Agent Fowler."

"Not me," Fowler declined as he walked in. "But I know who. Show me where this 'Con-napping occurred," Fowler requested.

* * *

"Lord Megatron, I fear Breakdown has gone missing," Starscream reported.

"The Autobots?" Megatron guessed.

"According to surveillance by the astonishingly accurate Soundwave, Breakdown was abducted by humans," Starscream explained.

"Your point?" Megatron asked.

"The strongest recommendation is we assemble a rescue team to hunt the vermin responsible for this outrage..." Starscream suggested.

"Breakdown is on his own," Megatron cut in.

"Master?" Starscream inquired.

"If Breakdown allowed himself to be captured by those smaller than him, weaker than him, he deserves whatever fate awaits him," Megatron declared.

"But Breakdown is a key player in our...," Starscream stopped short when Megatron glared at him, "Your wisdom reigns supreme, Lord Megatron…for now."

* * *

When Breakdown came to, he was in very strange place.

"What?" Breakdown found out that his limbs were held down by welded metal.

And as he came into sight with Silas and MECH, Breakdown knew they were responsible for his predicament.

"Filthy fleshlings! Who do you think you are?" Breakdown demanded.

"We are MECH. And I am Silas," Silas answered.

"Release me now and I will let you live!" Breakdown threatened.

"I'm afraid you are far too valuable to us," Silas informed him.

"Megatron will never pay a ransom," Breakdown scoffed.

"Oh, you misunderstand. We don't want a ransom. We want only you. _All of you_," Silas corrected.

* * *

"This is where we picked up Bulkhead," Ratchet reported to Agent Fowler.

"The Kamchatka Peninsula in Eastern Russia. Much of it was abandoned 20 years ago when its volcano first erupted. My Intel reported MECH activity there earlier today," Fowler explained.

"Kamchatka Peninsula? Wow, brings back old memory..." Aria muttered.

"You have been there before?" Arcee asked.

"Yeah, although not for long. Dynasty 8 used that place as temporary base and storage for illegal weapons. I stayed there for couple of days," Aria replied.

"MECH? You mean those techy guys?" Miko repeated in disbelief.

"The very ones who know of our existence on your planet," Ratchet added.

"They must have tracked one of us there," Bulkhead realized.

"But what would they want with Breakdown?" Miko asked.

"Does it matter? They can have him," Arcee scoffed.

"Haha, dragged off by humans," Bulkhead laughed, "Guess I softened him up for 'em."

"Yeah..."Miko wasn't in same mood as Bulkhead.

"Ratchet, reactivate the previous GroundBridge coordinates. We will rescue Breakdown," Optimus stated something that everybody less expected.

"WHAT?" Ratchet was very startled.

"Optimus, you can't be serious," Arcee objected.

"MECH can melt him down for all I care, let the 'Cons rescue their own," Bulkhead agreed added.

"It is unlikely that Megatron would bother with an errand of mercy," Optimus argued.

"Okay...but this is Breakdown we're talking about," Arcee argued.

"Sometimes, we must rise above ourselves for the greater good," Optimus recited.

"Aw, what's that supposed to mean? Breakdown's gonna be greatful and go all soft and join the cause?" Bulkhead scoffed.

"While it is unlikely that any Decepticon will choose the path of good, even THEY possess the potential for change," Optimus retorted.

"I KNEW where this was headed!" Bulkhead grumbled.

"By the greater good, I meant human kind," Optimus corrected, "MECH presents a clear and present danger."

"Prime's right, two tons. We know MECH's obsessed with obtaining groundbreaking technology," Fowler piped in.

"Which means we cannot allow Cybertronian biology to fall into their hands," Optimus proclaimed.

The other Autobots couldn't argue back, although they were still reluctant to rescue their mortal enemy Decepticon. Especially Bulkhead, since it was his nemesis and there was no way the green bot would do such goody-goody thing.

"Guess we don't have choice, huh?" Arcee sighed in defeat.

"Optimus, I have a suggestion," Aria raised her hand. "It's better if you take me with you."

"MECH is a dangerous threat come from humankind, it is not the task for your current ability," Optimus advised the girl.

"Which is why, I have to tag along. I'm still part human, it's fairer to face armed humans with another _armed human_ on your arsenal, right?" Aria gave her point. "Besides, I've been there, although not so long I'm pretty familiar with the island."

"She did have the point, Optimus. Well, if you really want us to flatten those cocky humans with our feet, I don't really mind," Arcee supported her student.

"Very well, Aria. But you are to stay close to me at all time, and do not take any action unless completely necessary," Optimus reluctantly agreed to take the ponytail girl.

"YES!" Aria jumped in happiness, she finally had her very first mission.

"Ratchet, open the GroundBridge," Optimus said as his teams were assembled.

* * *

All Autobots were ready for their unusual rescue mission, except one.

"Come on, Bulk! You gotta go with!" Miko tried to persuade her guardian.

"Don't wanna," Bulkhead could be very stubborn if the time called.

"Bulkhead..." Optimus called.

"Optimus I'm sorry, I just can't do it!" Bulkhead yelled.

"I support your choice," the Prime replied.

"WHAT?!" the green bot and his charge were surprised to the end.

"Given your history with Breakdown, your judgement may be clouded and just jeopardize the mission," Optimus reasoned. "Besides, the Decepticon may need more of a medic than another warrior," he pointed out to Ratchet who was joining the mission.

"Lock and loaded, Optimus," Ratchet confirmed as he joined in with his scanner on hand.

"Wow," Aria was rather surprised.

"Surprised? Well, it's not the first time Ratchet joining the field work," Arcee said.

"Really?"

"Autobots, roll out!" Optimus announced. With that, all of them transformed to vehicle mode, except Aria. The girl hopped to Arcee as they drove through the green portal.

* * *

As soon as they reached the other side, they transformed with weapon ready. Aria also transformed to Autobot mode immediately and had her blasters ready.

Optimus carefully scanned his surrounding. "No sign of life, human or Cybertronian," he spoke.

"You said it, this place is really abandoned, although I'm not so sure about that..." Aria mumbled, oblivious to anybody she wasn't fan of horror stuff. She was pretty creeped out by the dark surrounding, but she shook her head. She was a soldier, and she couldn't back off only because of those creepy stuffs.

Bumblebee beeped to tell them about fresh tire tracks.

"Forget the tracks, Bumblebee. I'm picking up faint energon signal 3 clicks by the northwest," Ratchet's scanner beeped and he pointed it to the said direction.

"Breakdown..." Optimus concluded the obvious.

"But we shouldn't be getting a reading unless..." Arcee was feeling uneasy.

"His energon has been spilled," Ratchet completed.

"We have to move. Autobots, be on your guard. Aria..." Optimus announced.

"Watch your back, isn't it?" Aria already guessed the job for newbie. "I'm on it," she confirmed.

"And stay close," Optimus wasn't the kind of repeating same words again and again even to newbies. But, he was very concerned about the girl's safety. The fact that they were dealing with humans wasn't helping to ease his nerve.

* * *

Back on the base, Fowler was already asleep in middle of a movie. Bulkhead was watching it, but Miko didn't pay any attention to the television.

"You're missing the smack down," Bulkhead tried to bring Miko's attention.

"No, YOU are missing the smack down," Miko cut in.

"Huh?" Bulkhead asked in confusion.

"What stinks is Breakdown's YOUR arch enemy. Not Optimus'. And definitely not MECH's," Miko stated.

"Miko, you don't understand. Breakdown and me; we go way back. You have no idea the things he's done. I am NOT rescuing him, OK? Not now! Not ever!" Bulkhead said firmly.

"You don't need to bro-mance him, Bulk! You just need to beat him!" Miko retorted.

"Uh…what?" Bulkhead stuttered in confusion.

"No rescue, no rematch," Miko persuaded with the hit on bullseye.

* * *

The team advanced slowly and carefully, led by Ratchet and his scanner. Aria was very serious about her job, as she didn't want to miss even a bug moving on her eyes. Oblivious to her, Optimus was also keeping a close watch on her. That was why, only he noticed that Aria was shaking a little bit. The girl did shake, but it was due to her fear of ghost town.

_Why you have to be creeped out?! You're a soldier, not a chicken! Ghost is not real...ghost is not real... _she kept telling herself those words in order to brace herself.

After few moments, they came into a very big building. As they entered the stranded property, Ratchet's scanner was going crazy.

"Reading is coming from...right here...?" Ratchet looked below his feet, there was an eye on top of dried up fountain. He crouched down to inspect the thing. "Breakdown's eye..."

With that, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Aria exchanged worried look to each other. Then, Ratchet picked the eye and connected it to his scanner.

"What are you doing?" Arcee asked as they gathered closer.

"The optic receptor may have obtained the final images seen," the medic replied as he pushed more buttons. There was an image of drill on the screen. But it was cut short, replaced by the image of Silas himself.

"_Well, well Optimus Prime? It's a pleasure to set the eyes on you again_," the leader of MECH greeted.

"He had converted the eye into two-way feed," Ratchet stated.

"And you must be Silas," Optimus finally could see the human who messed up with them.

"_In the plain_."

"That's Silas?" Aria muttered as she looked closer to the screen. Somehow, the man's face reminded her of Barba, although they weren't any identical.

"_But being that our captive isn't one of yours, I have to admit I was expecting...Megatron_," Silas commented.

"In this circumstances Autobots and Decepticons share a common foul," Optimus stated.

"_MECH is anything BUT common_!" the leader argued back. "_Our guest is giving a bit of information about your biomechanics as you can see. Although Breakdown himself can't see so well anymore_."

"We don't fear you," Ratchet challenged.

"_Oh, but you should. In fact I would strongly urge that you NOT stand your ground_," Silas threatened.

When the Autobots wondered what that meant, Aria's keen eyes spotted something near their feet. "LOOK OUT!" she alarmed as she pointed to the ground. There was a bomb planted, and it was about to go off.

"It's a trap!" Optimus said.

"Would this be a 'roll out' kind of trap?" Arcee could still crack some wise.

"Evacuate NOW!" with that, everyone retreated as quickly as possible as the bomb went off. They transformed to vehicle mode, all of them except one who couldn't; Aria. But it wasn't a big problem, except for the fact that her smaller size made her being thrown the farthest. Thankfully, Optimus caught her.

"Thanks, Optimus..." Aria thanked when Optimus put her back to the ground. "I wish I can have vehicle mode...for this kind of situation."

"Phew, so any idea where are they keeping the rest of Breakdown?" Arcee asked the others.

"Ratchet, do you keep the record of the footage?" Aria got an idea.

"Yeah, sure, I activated the recording system," Ratchet said.

"Then, can I see it?" Aria thought if she could identify any of the surrounding, she could know where exactly MECH planted their feet on the town. "Right here...can you zoom this one a little bit? That's it, a railway! I got it!" with that said, she headed to the west side.

"What are you doing now?" Ratchet asked as they followed the girl.

"That railway, the only explanation for that, MECH is having their base inside train stop or something. I know one train tunnel around this area, but it's way too far from here. Ah here it is," she stopped as she came across a large sewer grate. She used her cannon to blast the sewer open. "This sewer right here is a short cut to the train tunnel. I know because I once used it when I was ordered to retrieve some stuffs."

"And we're supposed to go through that?" Ratchet pointed to the itty bitty sewer.

"Who said that? I will go by myself," the girl reverted back to her human form.

"Aria, going to enemy territory all by yourself is not the best choice," Optimus argued as he didn't want to let the girl go all by herself.

"Maybe, but you should consider this. The real tunnel entrance can be heavily guarded, and it's better if we deploy some stealth sneaky tactic. MECH is expecting big Cybertronians coming for them, not a little human girl, so we may use that as our advantage. I'm going in to get the better view, and once I confirm they are really in there, I'll call you for back up, how does it sound?" she really wanted to take the enemies down by herself, they were humans after all. But she knew Optimus wouldn't let her unless she could convince him.

"Alright Aria, but you should call us immediately when you spot them," the Prime replied.

"Will do. Oh by the way, the train tunnel entrance is about 5 miles to the south from our GroundBridge enter point. We will meet up there," with that, Aria plunged herself to the small sewer. She remembered the route she used in the past to go to train tunnel. The town itself may be drought up, but their sewer didn't. "Augh, the smell..." After some long zig-zagging inside the sewer, she came into an opening. Aria remembered that she kicked open the train tunnel's hole open before, and that very same hole was still open, meaning the girl was in the right track.

* * *

"Jackpot," she muttered as she exited the sewer through the hole. Then, she felt something was very close to her. She turned around, alarmed, only to find Bulkhead there. "Bulk...?" Aria couldn't believe her eyes.

"Aria...?" the green bot was also startled as the girl popped up in his face out of nowhere. "H..how did you get here...?"

"That's my line, what are you doing here? I thought you wanted to leave Breakdown being broken down by MECH...?" Aria asked to the green bot who was supposed to stay in the base.

"Scrap that! The one who will scrap Breakdown is me, not MECH, not anybody else, and that's final!" Bulkhead said with renewed vigor.

Aria was still startled, but she smiled, not expecting the bulky green to change his mind that fast. "Okay, I get it. In fact, I'm in my luck to meet you down here, meaning that I'm in right track. But let me ask you, is the train tunnel entrance being guarded?" she said.

"No," Bulkhead shook his head.

"Okay, that's good. Mind if I tag along?"

"Much better," the green bot nodded then moved forward, followed closely by the girl. Then, they came into big metal door blocking the rest of the tunnel. "Stand back," he requested the girl before using his wrecking ball to smash the door. It took not only one blow to open the thick metal door.

_BLAM BLAM CRACK CRAKKK_

"MARCO!" Bulkhead announced as he jumped the door. He was greeted by firings from MECH's goons, but that was like mosquito bites for him. "You're supposed to say POLO!" he said as he mushed through the itty bitty human using his wrecking ball.

Aria was also in action, even though she was in human form, her punch was deadly. She used her cannon to blast MECH's weaponry, rendering them useless. "Bulk, go! I'll deal with them!" she said as she delivered karate chop to one man's face. The combat training from Arcee was finally being paid off. She pursued the escaping men into deeper section and that was where she spotted Breakdown with his eye missing. But, Aria only glanced at him for once as she was focusing on the bigger man in behind who was about to run away, Silas.

"Wow, wow, what's this?" Silas said as he noticed the little girl. "Not only that Autobots are in rescue, they carry a human girl with them? This day is going to be amusing..."

"You said it," Aria said as she leapt straight to where Silas stood. His guards immediately pointed their guns to her, but they were easily thwarted aside.

Silas was rather shocked that his men were tossed aside by the little girl like a doll. "Who are you...?" he asked warily.

"Your worst nightmare," Aria hissed before she threw another punch to Silas. Silas attempted to block the fist, but it was proven to be too tough to resist. Then, the bigger man tossed her aside and made a run with his guards. Aria wasn't pleased by it, but she didn't attempt to maintain pursuit. She merely joined Bulkhead and Breakdown who was freed by his nemesis. "So you're Breakdown?" she asked.

"Who is this, your newest pet?" Breakdown snarled to the green bot.

"You don't want to mess with her. Can you walk?" Bulkhead asked.

"I think so..." the blue truck replied. Then much to their shock, the alarm inside the converted base sounded.

"Can you run?" Bulkhead asked again.

"Never run when you can fight!" Breakdown brought out his hammer, it was clear that he wanted some payback.

"Just keep that thing outta my way, alright?" the green truck then made a run ahead, followed closely by Aria, then Breakdown. But in middle of their way, much of MECH goons were waiting and firing at them.

Aria immediately brought her cannon back and shot every of their guns in 100% precision. She was pretty proud with it, until they went outside to be showered more by firings. The girl didn't have choice but transformed to Autobot mode to fair better with the guns. "This is going to be a long night," she muttered as she shielded herself from the firing, as she didn't expect to fight with human criminals in her very first Autobot mission.

"You have some sort of escape plan?" Breakdown asked his rescuer.

"Yap, you're not gonna like it," Bulkhead responded.

"Aria to Optimus, rendezvous into my coordinates," Aria also knew that it was time for calling back up.

"We're in need of back up!" Bulkhead added, and by then he received a glare from his nemesis.

Well, that was the best option they had. Bulkhead and Breakdown were putting their back to each other and fighting the enemy together, for the first time ever. Aria was sort of amazed by the sight as she thwarted more of MECH's goons. "Be glad that I won't blast any of your heads _tonight_," she muttered as she smashed more of the cars. Then, she heard a loud crash, as she turned around, Bulkhead was on his knees. "BULKHEAD!" she was about to go to his side, before she was intercepted by more of MECH's army. And much to her horror, Silas' helicopter was about to fire him with a laser. "Bulk, LOOK OUT!" she yelled.

But the green bot was saved by no other than Breakdown himself. But after a while, they were retreating all of the sudden.

"Your backup?" Breakdown asked to Bulkhead.

It turned out to be Decepticon army led by Starscream, they landed in front of them.

"Nope, it's _your_ back up," Aria responded, she was bit surprised that Decepticons back up did arrive. And, she immediately recognized Starscream from Arianna's memory, as he was the one who always stuck around Megatron's side.

"Commander Starscream!" Breakdown called.

"Consulting with the enemy, Breakdown?" Starscream walked forward, clearly not pleased.

"Bulkhead got me outta there," the blue truck reasoned.

"Many sparks felt thanks, Autobot. Now _destroy them_!" Starscream ordered, before he set his eye to the femme whom he haven't seen before.

Breakdown was hesitant. "But you tell me...!"

"Planning to join their ranks anytime soon?! No?! Then be done with it already! Well...before that, some introduction would not hurt..." Starscream said as he stared directly to Aria. "Are you not too young to be in middle of this adult fighting?"

"Aren't you too manly to have those things on your heel?" Aria responded, referring to Starscream's heels.

"Arrogant little femme, aren't you?! But...I felt like I've seen you somewhere..." the jet put his fingers on his chin. "Whatever! Breakdown, why are you still standing there?! I tell you, destroy them!"

Breakdown was still hesitating. "Tough break, Bulkhead. Maybe in the next life," he finally made his decision and attacked Bulkhead with his hammer. But Bulkhead could dodge it and delivered his own blow to Breakdown.

"DESTROY THEM!" Starscream ordered his troops, before being tossed by Bulkhead.

The green bot then flung Breakdown to Decepticon troops. "Come on! I'll scrap all of you!"

"You bet!" Aria brought up her cannon, and she decided to take Starscream by her own. She shot few rounds to the Seeker's body. And being White Energon weapon, those shots were the real deal.

"Ouch OUCH AW!" Starscream was startled as the little femme managed to carry such explosive. By just two or three shots, his chest plate was leaking. "PUNY LITTLE SPARKLING!" Starscream deployed his own weapon and moved with his troops, before the Autobots back up arrived. "RETREAT!" he ordered his troops, and all of them flew away in instant.

"Engaging the enemy on your own was even more foolish this time, Bulkhead, Aria," Optimus said to the two of his members. "But Bulkhead, I'm honored that you sought to rescue your rival. You've truly reasoned above yourself."

"Did you see, I beat Breakdown and bashed him up with his own hammer! I won the rematch!" the green bot cried victoriously.

"I'm sure Miko will be proud," Arcee commented.

* * *

Meanwhile, Breakdown met up with Starscream in midway.

"One day, you will repay your debt to me, Breakdown...the day it comes time to choose side," the jet said.

"Huh...between Bots and Cons?" the confused truck asked.

"Between _myself_ and _Megatron_," the Seeker corrected. "In fact, I suggest that Megatron never know of this...rescue. You do want him to think you defeated the puny humans and escaped on your own, don't you?" with that the jet soared up to the sky again. "That's right Megatron, just wait for the time..." he grinned. Then, something hit his head. "Megatron...? That girl...yeah! I remember NOW! That girl looks like _her_! What is the meaning of this...?"

* * *

Back on the base, Ratchet was patching everyone up, when Optimus had his conversation with Aria. "You got yourself in danger in your very first mission, the thing I strongly disagree with," he spoke.

"Yeah, I know, I messed up," Aria sighed.

"Next time, I expect you to follow as exactly as I instructed," Optimus said.

"Yes sir!" the girl was happy that finally she was employed for real.

"As a newcomer, I would be monitoring you in the field work, that way you can stay close to me," the Prime spoke again.

"I appreciate your concern, but I'll be okay on my own," Aria reasoned. "I'm your soldier. There's no way I can just stick around you for protection. I have to be open in the battlefield."

"Aria, come here now!" Ratchet shouted.

"On my way!" Aria bowed to Optimus before responding to the medic's call.

Optimus just watched as Aria was running away from him. He sighed in defeat, he wanted to protect that young girl so badly. But, there was one thing that didn't correspond to that in his situation.

_Besides, I'm your soldier, right_?

He shook his head, for him Aria wasn't just a soldier. Optimus began to realize that he badly needed her. And, in order to do that, he had to make the biggest decision, although he was aware that the girl might not like it.

* * *

Meanwhile on Nemesis, Breakdown was about to see his doctor in sick bay. "Hey Knock Out, I need some medical attention here," he said as he entered the sick bay.

"Again?" Knock Out was working with his latest project. "Not surprising, but why you have to interrupt me in middle of my work? Come here! Oh, you mess your eye this time?! Frag it, you know that I'm short of supply!" the red car stood up and motioned his partner to the metal berth.

"Long story. Is that the thing that we picked up from that underground basement?" Breakdown asked to the capsule laying in corner of the sick bay.

"Yeah, Lord Megatron permitted me to carry that thing here. But, that thing is very hard to open," the red medic browsed through his tool rack. "Aside from the damage it sustained, the exposure to nature for long time making it sealed shut. It will be some time before I can crack it open."

"You think there will be something interesting inside that thing?" Breakdown asked again.

"Who knows," Knock Out said as he prepared to patch his partner up. "Science never fail to amuse me. Okay, can you explain why you're in this mess now?"

Breakdown told his partner about his recent adventure, but carefully leaving out the fact that he was rescued by Starscream or the Bots. Meanwhile, in the corner of the room, the capsule with 'Project 01' in it was laying with the greenish light still lit up dimly.

* * *

Please review :3


	2. You are here, yet so far away

**There's not really significance change for this chap. I only threw out the words I didn't need. Hope you enjoy it. **

* * *

_"Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity"_

* * *

_You're called Project 02, you're created solely to do our work._

_Blast those pests._

_BLAM_

"NO!" Aria screamed as she jerked up. As she adjusted her vision better, she was in her own bedroom. She panted heavily, then gave a long sigh. "Another nightmare," Aria mumbled. The half-Autobot preferred her human mode when resting. Recharging in Autobot mode needed less time than sleeping, but she felt more peace when in human mode. That, if she hadn't been haunted by occasion nightmare. She checked the time, it was 2 in the morning. Thinking she wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon, she got up from her bed, and walked out of her room.

* * *

As she walked out of her door, she casted a glance to Arcee's quarter which was just across the hallway. Aria shook her head, there was no way she could disturb the older femme even if she badly needed some companion. She made her way to the command center, and much to her relief, Ratchet wasn't there. She walked and sat down on the floor near GroundBridge panel control. She really needed somebody to talk with. But at the same time, there was no one there whom she could share her private things. There was just no one.

Aria gave a long sigh for the second time, even if she already had a place to stay permanently and people who accepted her, the girl still felt lonely most of the times. Sure, the Autobots and the children were kind and nice, especially Arcee her idol. But there was still this empty space inside her.

Then, Optimus flashed through her head, just thinking about him could make her smile a bit. Aria always felt safe if she was around Optimus. The last Prime never failed to amaze her, in multiple ways. He was brave enough to take many risky decisions but at the same time he was proven not to be a careless person. He always calculated every of his decisions carefully, it was no surprising why he was chosen as Prime.

But because he was the sole leader of the Autobots, it was always him who suffered the most. And it pained the girl when she thought about that, as she couldn't bear to see someone suffering so much. When there was someone like that in front of her eyes, she would do just anything to protect them. That was why, she respected Optimus on high regard and would do just about anything for him. For some reason, Optimus wasn't only her leader figure, he was everything to her. She really wanted to stay close to him all the time.

She sighed for the third time now, when she thought back about her past life in the nightmares, she couldn't help but questioning herself just why she was born to the world in first place? The girl was needed before, because she carried an ability to fight. But other than that, nothing. That was why, she was skeptical about Optimus' decision to keep her from mission despite she had the much needed firepower. For some reason, the Prime was paranoid about her safety. Thinking that there was at least one person who wanted to protect her, it made her relieved a bit.

"Aria…"

That was funny, Aria thought she heard Optimus' voice.

"Aria."

No, that wasn't her imagination, as the Autobot leader was already in command center. Aria couldn't believe it that she didn't hear him coming. "Optimus, what…are you doing here?" she immediately stood up. "Shouldn't you be in power down?"

"I heard footsteps here in command center," he said as he walked closer to Aria's spot.

"Oh really…?" Aria blushed, did that Prime really have such accurate hearing? Next time, she had to tiptoe in middle of night, it seemed. "Sorry to disturb your rest, then."

"No need to apologize, I cannot rest myself," Optimus kneeled to the girl.

"Why...?" Aria voiced over her concern.

"I could not stop thinking...over Arianna..." Optimus confessed.

"Arianna, huh..." Aria was reminded by Arianna. She smiled when reflecting back to the days she spent with Arianna. Those were really happy times. But then, the memory of her murder followed close behind, making Aria's spark hurt.

"Is something bothering you, Aria?"

"Uh well…" the girl wondered if she should tell him. "I…can't sleep, for some reason…yeah."

"Aria, if there's something that you want to say, you have to know that you can tell me everything," Optimus said.

Hearing Optimus' deep and calm voice warmed the girl's heart, she always liked the way Optimus talk. "Well…I…have nightmare, for several nights now," she told him. "Nothing big though, it's just…my past life," as if her past life wasn't a big deal. "You see, it's not that easy to forget that."

"I understand how hard it is, even though I had never been in your situation," Optimus finally sat down beside the girl. "If you wish, you can tell me about your nightmares. Telling somebody about your nightmare can make you feel better, as I heard before."

"Yeah perhaps. Well, the nightmares aren't always the same though. Like, my days with the Dynasty 8, exterminating everything that they ordered me to. But, there's one I will never forget..." Aria hung her head low. "The day when...Arianna died. It was...I don't know what to say. It was the most...horrible thing, even more horrible than the blood-splattering job..."

Optimus didn't reply, as he realized that he and Aria were suffering from the same pain. Optimus knew, that Aria suffered more than he did. Optimus still regretted for his separation from Arianna, but Aria was the one who witnessed Arianna's tragic end.

"Arianna was the only one for me. And from the moment she gone forever, it was the end of me too," Aria clutched her knees. "From there on, I was all alone..."

"I...had pretty much the same predicament. The thing that I strongly believed in, we could not alter someone's life destiny. I was supposed to accept the reality, the fact that Arianna was gone forever. But, there was one thing that I would regret for the rest of my life..." Optimus trailed off, "The fact that I might not be the appropriate father for her. All that I thought of was the war, not the well being of my family. And, I paid the great price for that..."

Much to Aria's surprise, Optimus wrapped her body with his palm. The metal palm was warm, and it felt really good. It felt so safe, and protecting.

"You are not going to be alone, from this moment, as long as my spark is still beating," the Prime said something that sounded like a pledge.

"Thank you," Aria smiled. "For everything that I saw in Arianna, I could tell that you're an excellent parent. I can't think of many father figure who is as great as you, in this universe."

"Nothing is perfect in this world, that goes same for me," Optimus looked straight to Aria's eyes. "Right before Arianna joined with the Allspark, she entrusted me for your care. You should know that she loved you so much."

"I too, loved her with all my heart. Forever and ever..." Aria allowed herself to smile.

"I do not think of anything that could surpass my love for Arianna. For me, losing the one I loved so much, even once was already too much. I do not wish to repeat the same mistake," Optimus paused, he was going to do it. "Aria, the first time I set my eyes on you, you are already so special for me. Arianna wanted me to protect you, to make you happy. Would you want...to be my daughter?"

"W...What...?!" Aria was shocked nonetheless, never she imagined the Prime would say such thing. She was speechless, she already dreamt such thing, becoming Optimus' daughter. But, she wasn't a pure Cybertronian, and although she was linked through genetic to the Prime, there was one thing.

"You know very well, that I and you had no real connection from the start. Is this because...Arianna was becoming one with me?" Aria asked in disbelief. Her feeling was rather hurt. It was the fact that she shared the body of Arianna, the body of Optimus' beloved daughter. And now, Optimus wanted Aria to be his child.

"Aria, I…" Optimus was about to continue, but Aria stopped him from talking.

"You should know that I'm not Arianna. Please don't see me as her, or her replacement," Aria stood up, "...But, let me think about it," without turning back to Optimus, Aria left the command center to her own room.

Aria didn't like it, much to Optimus' disappointment. Although, he didn't expect her to say 'let me think about me', he was expecting a rejection than anything else. Then again, he couldn't help but think, that she wasn't going to accept.

"Primus…" he sighed. "Perhaps a second chance doesn't exist after all…" he really wanted a second chance, to prove that he was able to protect his loved one. How could he do it, when his loved one was so far away?

* * *

Review please :3


	3. It's about what you need

**I hoped that I could rewrite the scenes of Crisscross here, really I hoped. But, I couldn't bring myself into it, because of one thing;**

**Airachnid + MECH + June - Optimus and the other Autobots = completely boring stuff (at least for me)**

**Airachnid, MECH and June are my least favorite characters, even I considered them to be in my hate list (sorry if there's any Airachnid's or MECH's fans). Well, June may be nice, but the things I hate about her are more in storage than the things I like about her. **

**Enjoy, I really hope for it.**

* * *

_"The true secret of happiness lies in taking genuine interest in all details of daily life"_

* * *

From 2 am to the dawn, Aria was unable to sleep. She spent the rest of the night by rolling on her bed. The thought of Optimus' offer bugged her so much. Aria had never imagined that it would turn that way.

After going through the life as machine, Aria was glad for the chance to move on with her life. And, she was grateful for the kindness and care from her friends. But out of them, Optimus was the only one who extended his hand that far. Then again, she was reluctant, because of her similarity and difference with Arianna, Optimus' first daughter.

"_Aria, are you awake yet? This is already 10 a.m!_" Ratchet commed her. "_Come here immediately, I need your help in GroundBridge maintenance._"

"On my way," she reluctantly agreed. She knew that Optimus was at command center, but at the same time she didn't want anybody to know about her problem. As if Optimus hadn't told his old friend already.

And as she walked to the command center, she prayed for Arcee to come back to base immediately. She was the only one the younger girl could talk with. There was Optimus, standing in middle of the command center. "Good morning," that was all, nothing more.

"Aria, I think I've told you about the GroundBridge maintenance schedule, right?" Ratchet reminded.

"Sorry, I overslept," she made up a reason.

"You have to fix that oversleeping habit. Whatever, we shouldn't waste any time," Ratchet picked up his tool kit and walked to the GroundBridge gate. "This technology is sacred to us. Aria, open the panel over there!"

"Yes sir!" Aria began the routine maintenance. "Any idea when Miss Arcee will come back?" and before she heard a reply, a familiar motorcycle engine rolled in. "Oh, there she is."

"Hey Optimus," she wasn't sounded so pleased. "Hey there, Aria. Keeping up with your training?"

"Sure I do," Aria said as she re-routed the bridge's system. "Where's Jack?"

"About that, his mother grounded him and me for a whole week," the motorcycle sounded desperate. "Which is why, I cannot stay here for long. I have to go to the garage at night or it will be the end of both of us. Apparently, only for Jack, but what's the difference? I'm his motorcycle alright,"

"Jack's mother? Why?" the girl asked again.

"From what I heard, Jack was missing his shift at work, and fell asleep at History and Art classes. June wasn't all pleased with it. So, long and behold, Jack was limited to use non-engine vehicle for transport," Arcee said. "As nice as it sounds, she's quite a nag in my opinion."

"Can't be helped, she's a single parent, right?" Aria gave a hollow laugh. "It must be nice, to have somebody who will protect you all the time, despite of who you are."

Arcee noticed something was wrong with the way she talked. "In any case, since I can't be here for long, want to do some short spar?"

"Arcee, can't you see that we are busy?" Ratchet talked in.

"Just for a while. What do you say, Aria?" Arcee winked to the girl.

"Okaay, I'm on it. Ratch, I'll be back later!" Aria jumped too fast and as the result she dropped one of Ratchet's tool.

"Aria, I NEEDED THAT!" Ratchet shouted.

"Sorry!"

So they went outside to the place where they used to practice. But Arcee wasn't about to go to spar or anything, she took a seat on a big rock. "Come here," she motioned the girl to sit beside her. "So, what's the matter? You sounded not too good today."

"Well, about that," Aria sighed. "Last night, I was unable to sleep. So, I wandered to the command center, and I met up with Optimus. We had quite a talk, and then…he told me that he…wanted to be my parent."

Arcee widened her eyes. "Wow…that's good, right…?"

"Yeah, it sounded really good..."

"Did you accept?"

"Not yet."

"Why?"

"Well…I just don't know, Miss Arcee. It's as if…he saw me as Arianna's replacement," the girl continued.

"He said such thing as well?"

"No, just my speculation," Aria shook her head.

"Aria, what I said about 'speculation'? You can't know what's inside someone's mind by just speculation," Arcee advised.

"I know that, but then again, I have no courage to ask him directly," the ponytail replied sadly. "I'm afraid of hurting his feeling."

"Yeah, we all don't want to hurt his feeling after all he had been through. But, tell me Aria, just how you feel about Optimus? Do you hate him?" Arcee asked again.

"No, absolutely not," Aria firmly replied.

"Then why you reject such offer? Everyone dreams to be part of Optimus' family, in case it's not clear."

"First of all, I'm not his sparkling, although my altered genetic code said the otherwise. But between me and Optimus, there's nothing except leader and subordinate relation. Well, I thought I would be fine with it, but…" she curled up her knees. "I love Arianna, but I don't want to be her, I want to be myself. I want to move on with my life. But then again, I don't know how to start with."

"I do know what you go through, because once I went through the same thing. So hard to forget hard past, huh?" Arcee looked up to the sky.

"Is this about Cliffjumper?"

"Yes, I've told you, before him I was partnered with Tailgate. In one mission, he was killed in front of my eyes. That incident still haunts me to this day," the blue femme closed her eyes. "Since that day, I had this huge hole inside my spark, and I didn't want to be partnered with anybody because I didn't want to add more holes. But when I partnered with Cliff, I finally realized that all I've done was all I wanted, not what I needed to move forward." She glanced to the younger girl. "If you really want to move on with your life, you have to ask yourself what do you need for that, not what you want. And sometimes, what we actually need isn't what we always want."

"What I need…?" Aria felt like she had been lighted up, but then, there was this confused feeling.

"_Aria, Arcee, come back to base now! We have situation!"_ Ratchet contacted them immediately.

"Should we go?" Arcee asked.

"Yup," the girl nodded. "By the way, thanks."

Ratchet detected an Energon signal, and dispatching Arcee, Aria, and Bumblebee for scouting mission. Eventually, the scouting mission turned into ambush because Decepticon drones also tracked the same signal, and they ended up battling in Energon mine deposit.

"You're going down, Decepticon punks!" Aria was fired up as she fought the real Cons for the first time. Although her skill was still inferior, there was one thing she could aim for good; head.

"Watch your back!" Arcee was in nick of time to shoot a Con who was about strike the sea-green femme from behind. As Aria's mentor, Arcee was in charge of protecting her in real battlefield. The sea-green femme still couldn't watch the attack from her back.

"Sorry!" Aria quickly corrected.

"Jack? What is it?" Arcee was receiving a call from Jack, it seemed. "What?! Do you know where I am now?! But…fine…!"

"What is it, Miss Arcee?" Aria asked.

"It's Jack, he said his mom is going home earlier today. Which means, I have to get back to the garage before she comes home, and everything goes to smoke," Arcee replied. "Can I leave this to you guys?"

"Sure thing, I got Bee here," Aria gave a thumb up before blasting another Con with her super white blast. "Oh, before that, here!" Aria deployed a special syringe Ratchet installed on her right arm, with that she could inject her white energon to heal her teammates in case of emergency. She healed her mentor from all her scrapes. "I don't think you want to go home with all that scrapes, and you don't have time to stop at sick bay."

"I think this is just for emergency cases?" Arcee asked as she was amazed by how powerful the white energon was.

"This is one of those, now go!" Aria urged her mentor to go as the GroundBridge portal opened. But as Arcee disappeared through the green vortex, Aria was struck in the back by cannon blast. "AW!" she cried in pain and stumbled down. "I really need to watch my back..." she muttered as she gathered herself up and paid back the blast to her shooter. She inspected the damage on her back, it was pretty severe. As White Cybertronian, she could heal much faster than normal Cybertronian, but sadly she couldn't use her own energon to heal her body instantly.

"Bee!" Aria immediately joined her teammate to thwart the Vehicons. Even though she already had great fighting skill, her size made her at disadvantage. Nevertheless, she could carry a heavy punch, and she used her shapeshifting ability to the use. She first reverted back to human form to vanish from the enemy's sight, slipping to the back, transformed again, and...PUNCH.

As the Cons were overpowered, they retreated quickly. Aria watched the Vehicons made a run of it. "We owned them, not bad for my first time, I think..." she muttered, but flinched as the pain on her back grew more intense.

The yellow bot immediately assisted her, and beeped something. _You okay?_

"I'm fine Bee, don't worry. This is just a scratch...should we take the prize now?" Aria referred to the Energon crystal ready to be mined. She knew how important those crystals were for her Autobot teammates.

_No, we have to go back to base first. Ratch, we need GroundBridge! _Bumblebee contacted the base. He helped the younger femme walking as they went through the portal home.

"By the Allspark! Aria, you are injured!" Ratchet immediately examined the girl's back.

Optimus was alarmed, worry was presented clearly on his face as he rushed to the girl's side. "Aria!" he frantically called, which was rare for the Prime to be that frantic. He began to regret letting Aria to go for the field work when Decepticons were peering from every corner.

"Go to my bay, now!" Ratchet instructed both younglings. The medic had Aria sitting down on metal berth as he patched her back up.

"Ratchet..." Optimus asked worriedly to his CMO.

"The damage is quite severe but nothing life-threatening. I can fix this, simple thing," Ratchet reassured.

"Well, I admit it, I messed up a little bit," Aria said. "I can't still determine what's more important, behind me or before me. But, that's not gonna happen next time, I promise!"

"Engaging the enemy when you are not fully prepared is not the wisest thing to do, Aria," Optimus lectured. "I suggest you take some days off from mission to improve your skill."

"Optimus, I beg to differ. I admit that my skill isn't enough, but that doesn't mean I can't learn from my mistakes," Aria objected.

"You heard it, Optimus, I see no reason to ground her," Ratchet added. "And, in case it's not clear, Arcee is facing some kind of...misfortune from Jack's parent. We will be short of staff in next couple of weeks."

"Hmm..." the Autobot leader had nothing more to say, and just left the med-bay.

_What's wrong with the boss? _Bumblebee asked Ratchet.

"I also have no idea, Bumblebee. He has been like this since morning," the medic answered. "Now Aria, stay still."

After 15 minutes or so, the treatment was finally over, Aria was finally be able to shift back to her human mode. She checked the clock to see that it was almost night. Arcee said that June was grounding Jack and his motorcycle, Aria grunted in annoyance as she probably would spend some nights without her favorite mentor. Well, at least they could chat over comm link.

"Aria to Miss Arcee, mind for some night-time chat?" she reached her comm link, but it was in static. "What the...? No answer...wondering what she's doing now," it was unusual for her idol star to switch off her comm link, but well, she didn't have any clue of it.

Aria began to think of Optimus' offer. She wasn't sure yet, whether to reject or accept. If she was to accept, for what base? If she rejected, what was the reason?

_It's what you need, not what you want_.

Aria cared for Optimus, and she was well aware of it. She likes him so much. But, would she have more than just like? When she wasn't sure about accepting, rejecting such kind offer was also a bad idea. Aria knew she badly needed it, but at same time she was reluctant.

* * *

As the day changed into the next, Aria was feeling more and more uneasy. She decided to head to command center. And much to her surprise, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, together with Raf and Miko were there. "Oh hi guys!"

"Hey Aria, I thought you were still in bed," Raf greeted from the couch.

"Hi Raf and Miko, well yeah, I'm overslept," Aria replied.

"Again? What are you, a sloth?" Miko asked jokingly.

"It's so hard to get up once you cuddled in the blanket," Aria replied when she walked closer to the group.

"I know that. If only not for the boring class and school stuff, I can stay in my dream for the whole day! By the way, have you heard that Jack was grounded? It seems that we will be missing him for the whole week," Miko explained.

Aria frowned. "Ratch, do you hear any of Miss Arcee for last couple of minutes?" she asked the CMO.

"Nope, why?" the medic asked back.

"Cause, every time I tried to contact her comm, it was switched off," Aria said. "Don't you think she's in some kind of trouble?"

"Well you know that 'Cee isn't the kind to go into trouble that easy," Bulkhead reasoned. "Even if she's attacked by Cons in middle of nowhere, all she needs to do is, HIYAH, WHAM!" the big green tried to mimic Arcee's fighting move, which caused him to tumble down harshly to some monitors.

"Bulkhead, I NEEDED THAT!" Ratchet shouted for the numerous times, for a medic, he sure was stressed a lot more.

"Kung fu grip, Bulk! Kung fu grip!" Miko cheered when she performed kung fu move.

"Your concern is making sense, Aria. But, we should not make any move before being notified," Optimus advised.

"As in fact, Agent Fowler just sent us a notification. He said that one more of the humans knows about our existence," Ratchet reported. "Jack's mother, and she would come here to make clear of some things."

True to be told, not for long Jack and June were driving on top of Arcee, to the base's interior.

"Mom, meet my science fiction club," the teen boy said to his mom. June was staring at the giant robots with shock and awe.

"Uh...oh..." Aria muttered. "This is going to be a long day..."

* * *

On the Nemesis, Starscream and Breakdown were in serious discussion, very secret one to be exact.

"I only told you what I saw, that femme was transforming from big form to small human," Breakdown said. "She was like stretching and then everything grew big in instant."

"That doesn't make any sense! No way a human can transform into a Cybertronian!" Starscream wasn't in good mood. "I believe your eye is at fault here."

"Are you saying that my eye is blind?! What's more, why you bother so much about this small femme?" Breakdown argued back.

"It seems like you two are busy with something," Megatron popped in, eventually shocked the spark out of the two of them. "May I know what you are talking about?"

"Ah, our one and only Lord Megatron…! No, it's just…Breakdown here is reporting me about some nonsense things!" Starscream immediately did his usual politeness as good as possible.

"What, but you…" Breakdown was about to protest, but he shut up as the Commander Seeker glared at him.

"Is that so? I think I heard something about a _certain Autobot femme_," following behind Megatron was Soundwave, and the surveillance Cons played a footage, a sea-green femme was battling with the Decepticon troops by changing from human to Autobot back and forth.

"That is the girl!" Breakdown pointed. "Now, do you believe me?! The Autobots must have found some way to make a techno organic. Or better yet, those humans who tried to mess with me…!"

"Shut up, Breakdown. Now Lord Megatron, is there anything that you want to tell us from your wisdom?" the jet asked 'politely'.

"Yeah, and I'm about to ask you Starscream, does this face remind you of certain someone?" Megatron asked as Soundwave brought up the image of the sea-green femme.

"Well, yeah actually, I thought she resembles a little bit with the daughter of Optimus Prime," Starscream replied.

"Daughter of Optimus? That femme?" Breakdown raised his optic ridge. "I never heard that Prime had a daughter."

"Of course nobody knows, except for Lord Megatron and myself. Optimus thought that keeping his family relation as a secret, would keep his daughter away from harm," Starscream said. "But because of that, she was the perfect hostage for the Decepticon. Sadly, she escaped our grasp when we arrived at Earth. Ah, of course it wasn't any of my Lord's fault," the jet was very careful with his words.

"Well, for that, I admitted it that I made a mistake, that sparkling was the tenacious one. She carried so much traits with Optimus," the Lord of Doomsday said, as he didn't move his optics away from the image on Soundwave.

"My Lord, that girl does resemble the sparkling we abducted long before, but this femme here is far older, and her armor is in different color," Starscream argued. "As far as I concerned, this femme isn't her."

"Is she?" Megatron wasn't convinced. "The only way for me to be sure, I have to see this femme with my own eyes for real."

* * *

Review please :3


	4. The revelation

**June, June, why is it so hard to write about you? By the way, I've heard some comments of my acquaintances, that my Aria is bit Mary Sue. I do not intend to make Aria that way, but I might accidentally did so. My bad, not gonna happen anymore. Enjoy the story.**

* * *

"_The natural state of motherhood is unselfishness. When you become a mother, you are no longer the centre of your own universe. You relinquish that position to your children"_

* * *

Agent Fowler arrived shortly after the arrival of June and Jack. The agent briefed the nurse about the story behind Autobots' arrival on Earth, as well as the war between the Cybertronians.

"When I thought that those men dressed in black suit even creeped their hands to my body..." Arcee was referring to MECH who was about to open her up when she was unconscious. "I wish I could do more than just kicking them though," she was utterly disgusted.

"So that's why you didn't answer my comm since last night?" Aria asked. "Those ill mannered devil-forsaken men! They dare to mess with us now...?! Next time I see their sorry faces again, they will know what it's like not to have head!"

"Wow, wow, that's extreme..." even Bulkhead was creeped out by the girl's death threat.

"Just kidding," Aria added, although the tone of those sounded like it was about to happen for real.

"So, how about that spider lady? You taught her a lesson?" Miko asked to Arcee.

"Wish I could, but she got away with her dirty tricks. It was so close though, if only those _copters _didn't show up," the blue motorcycle glanced to Fowler.

"Don't tell me..." Miko, as well as everybody else got the hint about what was happening.

"You want to blame me for the escaping Con?! Can I remind you that we were saving your butts?!" Fowler argued back. "I've traveled through a rough night, leaving bunch of paperworks on my desk even if the deadline is close, tell you what, you have no heart."

"Agent Fowler, we are grateful for everything you have done for us," Optimus intercepted. "And Jack, I believe your mother needs some time to rest her mind?"

June was sitting next to her son, she was clearly still shaken for what happened the night before. "I'm fine now. Opttimus...isn't it?" the woman answered with firm and calm voice. "I was wondering though, what's the deal with those kids inside this place?" as she wasn't explained yet about the kids.

"Your son, as well as Miko and Rafael discovered about our existence long time ago, and that alone risked their safety. We took the responsibility to protect them at all cost," Optimus replied.

"That means free of charge ride to everywhere, as well as getting the chance to see some freaking cool stunts of alien robots fighting in middle of nowhere!" Miko added in with so much excitement. "Isn't that just awesome?!"

"Not. Awesome," now June was wary. "You even involve young teenagers in your war?"

"We have no intention of involving them or any human into the war that isn't their responsibility," Optimus tried to reassure the woman. "We swear to protect their lives with our lives, June."

"Mom, it's not their fault. We were the one who chose to get involved in first place," Jack spoke in. "If you want to blame me, then fine. But I'm not going to leave Arcee and all my friends, I don't want to sit around when all of them are fighting for our planet's safety."

June was surprised on how her son grew up into very strong young man, then again, Jack was still young, and her only son. "Jack, all I care about is your safety."

"I'm 18, I can take care of myself. Don't worry, mom, I will always come home safely, I promise," the dark-haired boy put his hand on his mom's shoulder.

Aria watched the heartwarming scene with a smile on her face. She somehow envied Jack and the other two children as they too, had parents and family.

"Mrs. Darby, as representative of both the Autobots and human authority, I beg you to keep this as top secret," Fowler said.

"I will, you have my word," June nodded to the black agent. Then, her attention turned into the ponytail girl. "Aria, isn't it?"

"Yes?" the said girl replied.

"Pardon me, but aren't you the girl who involved with Dynasty 8 months ago?" June asked.

Aria was pretty much startled. "How...do you know?"

"A friend of mine works in human society, she told me she once took care of a girl involved with the mafia case," the nurse explained. "She wasn't allowed to take picture of you, but she described to me, Asian looking girl, with long black ponytail. I didn't expect to meet you here, shouldn't you be in orphanage?"

The ponytail was speechless, she also had no idea that Jack's mom was acquaintance of that caretaker. "Well...let's just say I'm not suited for any kind of orphanages," Aria pondered, as the fact of her half-Cybertronian wasn't exposed yet, but she thought it was the right time. "I'm not normal, you know."

"What makes so?"

Aria first looked at Jack for confirmation, as June probably wouldn't take it well. But after the boy nodded, the Asian girl decided it was the time. "Because of this," Aria stood up and transformed her right hand to metal hand. As expected, June nearly had heart attack.

"Mom, please calm down!" Jack tried to calm his mom. "Aria is friend of mine, she's a nice girl, I swear."

After seeing giant robot alien for first time, seeing a human cyborg was something else. "How...?" June's heart was still pounding wildly.

"It's pretty long story. Do you know the scientists group working for Dynasty 8? They merged me with a Cybertronian sparkling, and the result is here, a half machine half human," Aria summed as she reverted her arm back.

"That wasn't what written in the news!" the single mother was baffled.

"Mom, do you really think they can write stuff like that?" Jack cut in.

"Oh...that's right..." after recovering from her shock, June's sense kicked in again. "This isn't good for my heart..."

"June, you're pretty beat up after what happened yesterday," Arcee spoke in. "You should go home and take some rest, I'll drive you home if you want."

"Oh, that's really nice of you, Arcee..." the woman thought that she could be best friend with the motorcycle. "Yeah, that might be a good idea. After some rest, I'll come back here."

"For what?" Jack asked.

"Making sure the four of you have everything you need here," June said to the teens.

"What?" the four children exchanged looks to each other.

"Why am I even included here?" Aria asked.

* * *

It may be nice to think that June was a strong, kind, and nice woman, but in fact, she was a single mother. So when she said she would make sure the children were good, she really meant it. At the next day, she was back at the base again, this time with her own car. Jack was still on the way from KO burger with Arcee.

"Come on, come on!" Miko and Rafael were in middle of hot racing game. Miko's car was about to hit the finish line, until...

"Kids, that's enough," until June stepped in and turned off the TV.

"AAAAAAGH!" the two kids, especially Miko, couldn't believe it. "I was about to win!" the pigtail girl moaned in distress.

"It's time for you have lunch, with no TV or game obviously. And not to mention, you have been playing for almost an hour. Staring at monitor for too long can damage your eyes," June lectured.

"Yes ma'am," Miko grunted as she was loss at words. "How if we have lunch first? I'm starving."

"That's good idea," Rafael said and he was about to reach the spot where they put their lunches. "Huh, where are the burgers and hot dogs?"

"I got rid of them," June replied.

"WHAT?! Not again!" Miko wasn't pleased. "It's the double cheese burgers sold half price just for today!"

"Eating junk food too often isn't good for your health. Don't worry, I have something for you," the nurse brought out a lunchbox packed with wheat bread sandwiches filled by vegetables and little meat. "This is much healthier for you."

Of course, not all teenagers favored wheat vegan sandwiches. When Rafael was just okay with it, Miko wasn't in the same mood. The girl just stared at the sandwiches in defeat and disgust. "Fine...!" she grunted in annoyance.

Aria, who was sitting on the railing, just smiled seeing that scene. She often heard about 'mother hen', but that was her first time seeing it for real.

"Aria, don't sit on there, it's dangerous!" but the nurse didn't make any exceptional. "Come here and have lunch with us!"

"Err...yes ma'am," being half-Autobot, the girl would be fine sitting anywhere. But being polite kid, Aria just did what the nurse told her, and got down from the platform railing.

Arcee and Jack rolled in just in time. June finally let go of the three other kids and greeted her own son. "Hi honey, how is your day?" she asked as she gave the hug to the boy.

"Uh, fine, mom. Say, when did you get here?" the teen boy was quite surprised to see his mom there.

"Just couple of minutes ago. Hello there, Arcee," June greeted the blue femme. "Now Jack, come on here, I have sandwiches and we're going to eat it together." And as they were about to go to couch area, Aria was already standing in front of them with a sandwich on her hand. "Aria, where are you going? It's lunch time."

"It's time for my training with Miss Arcee, Nurse Darby," Aria replied. "We agreed to start training when she came back."

"Really? In lunch hour?" now June frowned to Arcee.

"It's routine schedule," Arcee gave her argument.

"Don't worry, I have my fill here," Aria held up the sandwich on her hand, and walked closer to Arcee. "Hopefully I'll be back before you leave, Nurse Darby. See you later. Now, shall we go, Miss Arcee?"

"Sure," the blue motorcycle nodded to June and Jack before leaving to training room with Aria. "I take it, she nagged at you too?" she asked once they were out of earshot of anyone.

"Pretty much," the younger girl giggled as she munched the last bite of her sandwich. "She even set meal time for me too. Even if I said I don't need to eat as much as normal human, she doesn't buy that."

"I guess so. Even Jack doesn't really like the mother hen thing. But you...don't seem to mind?" the older femme asked again.

"As if I have to, besides, she does have her reason," Aria argued.

"Oh...by the way, where's the others?"

"Ratchet was in the storage for a couple of hours now, Sir Optimus is out of base, Bulkhead and Bumblebee were in training room, they said something about sparring," the ponytail replied. But as they were turning around hallway, they met up with Optimus. Aria widened her eyes nonetheless.

"Optimus, where have you been?" Arcee asked.

"From the outside. May I know where you two are heading?" the Prime glanced briefly to the younger girl.

"We're about to do some more training, sir," Aria said, before turning her eyes from the Prime.

"I see, be careful not to injure yourselves," with that Optimus walked pass them.

"You haven't given him any answer yet?" Arcee asked as their leader was far away.

"Nope," Aria sadly shook her head.

Her words before were true, when they came across training room, loud crashes and bumps could be heard. The green and the yellow were engaging in serious spar, or, wrestle. Bulkhead was performing arm lock at Bumblebee.

"Now, betcha can't release this, can you?" the big green boasted as the younger one struggled to break free. "HAH!" then he tossed the yellow bot to the ground with wrestle move. "Hey Aria, and 'Cee, come here for some kick aft mock fighting too?"

"Well, Miss Arcee, I haven't been in group spar lately," Aria seek permission from her mentor.

"It may be a good idea, I'm in," Arcee agreed.

* * *

It was unusual for Decepticon Lord to stare at his monitor so intense. He was playing the footage of Aria fighting with Vehicons, provided by Soundwave. He stared intently at the femme with curious and hateful look.

"Lord Megatron..." Starscream peeped in. Then he received spark attack as Megatron suddenly glared at him. "Ah...forgive me from interrupting your private time, my Lord. But as your 2nd in command, I would like to ask, what are you going to do with that new recruit of Autobot? If you want her to be brought before your eyes, I shall receive the honor to do it, my Lord."

"We are not going to make any move without any preparation, Starscream," Megatron said. "Because of one thing, look at this." He pointed at the footage.

Starscream carefully inched closer, and saw what his leader pointed to. It was the scene where Aria was firing her cannon, but he failed to notice anything unusual. "Is something bothering you, my Lord?" Starscream finally asked.

"I assume your eyes are failing you?" the Lord of Doomsday mocked. "Look at the color of the blast. It's _white_."

"Oh yeah, forgive me. You're right, but...does it really matter, my Lord?" Starscream clearly still had no idea what Megatron was talking about.

"Sure, it matters so much..." Megatron whispered. As the Dark Energon was proven to be exist in the reality, Megatron knew that its nemesis also existed.

* * *

"HIYAH!" Aria was throwing Bulkhead with judo moves. "Ippon!" she thrusted her fist to the air victoriously.

_What's that_? Bumblebee beeped with a frown.

"Well, that's what they said if someone wins over judo contest in Japan," Aria told the yellow bot.

"Pretty awesome, I guess human fighting moves are just for human only," Arcee was amused. "Bulk, you alright?"

"Augh..." the big green sat straight up, he groaned in pain as he rubbed his head. "Not quite, Cee. I was wondering what you taught to her all these times?"

"Nothing special, just what we received during our training days, with some improvises of course."

"_We have situation, everyone! Get back to command center, NOW!" _Ratchet commed all of them. _  
_

"Ratchet again? Why he has to be in the way when we're having good time?" Bulkhead stood up.

Within minutes, the four of them gathered in command center. When Aria took glance to the couch area, the three kids were busy with their books on the table and June was supervising them. Seemed like the woman succeeded in making them forget watching TV or games and studied instead.

"I've detected a faint Energon signal in abandoned Decepticon mine," Ratchet reported.

"Faint Energon signal..." Aria pondered.

"In abandoned Energon mine? Doesn't make any sense," Bulkhead said. "So, what's the deal with the 'situation'?"

"Because I've detected another, this one is Decepticon signature," Ratchet brought up the Decepticon insignia on his monitor.

"In any means, we have to make sure the Decepticon is out of human's way. Autobots, you have project to do. We have to investigate this Energon signal as well as the Decepticon. For this mission, Arcee and Aria, you are the best suited," Optimus said.

Aria couldn't believe it when Optimus appointed her. "Yes sir!"

"Remember, do not engage carelessly and call for back up immediately if needed. And Arcee..." the Prime advised.

"Keep her safe, I got it," the blue femme said, and glanced to her student. "You ready, girl?"

"You bet!" the sea-green femme gave her thumb up.

"Open the GroundBridge!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Starscream was arriving in the said abandoned Energon mine. "I admit it's really troublesome to check over your personal storage, but it's worth it. Soon, when I have enough supply of Energon for my own, I can start my own armada," he grinned evilly. Then, as he advanced more deep inside the mine, he heard something from the deeper area. "What's that?" he dashed to the source of the voice.

And as he came to the bottom of the mine, he spotted a spider bot digging on Energon crystal hidden by the Seeker on the wall. "You are...Airachnid the rogue scavenger!" he yelled furiously.

"Oh? It's you, Starscream, Megatron's working dog?" Airachnid turned around as she plucked out a small Energon crystal from the wall. "It's surprising to see you anywhere but Megatron's side. What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you THAT! What are you doing to my personal stuff, you thief!" the jet pointed his finger to the spider bot.

"Personal stuff? I thought this mine was stripped down and abandoned?" Airachnid was confused, but she got the hint eventually. "Oh, don't tell me you are keeping personal storage? I don't think Megatron will like such thing."

"It's none of your business, now give that thing back to me!" Starscream demanded for the Energon crystal held by Airachnid.

"Not a chance, I also need this thing, you know? Or, shall we do this hard way?" with that, the spider femme was ready for some slaughters. Fighting over a sustenance, it was always the law of nature.

* * *

Review please :3


	5. Revenge

**I came up with this kind of idea, because I didn't think that Arcee's gonna let Airachnid toying around with Jack and his mother. She's going to draw blood, that's in my opinion. **

* * *

_"When seeking revenge, dig two graves. One for yourself."_

* * *

"Busy as always, huh Optimus?" June asked to Optimus.

June had never expected to meet with giant alien robots in her life. She always thought such things only existed in fairytale. And the nurse was rather curious about the Autobots' life.

"Searching for Energon is why we are here. And keeping Decepticons away from humanity is our responsibility," Optimus said. "I do not wish for your world to suffer the fate that is not your own responsibility. Any world of that matter."

June didn't say anything. She was rather impressed on how wise Optimus could be. Or rather, on how a seemingly mechanical machine could say such wise words.

"You are Jack's mother. I have to say, Jack is one bright young boy. June, you did amazing job on raising your son," Optimus praised with a smile.

"Oh, well, I only did the thing that any mother will do..." June said sheepishly. "I'm not sure if I even did a good job. I'm a working mother, see? As a mother I suppose to take care of him. But sometimes I feel like I left Jack fending off himself. It's really hard to be a single mother. Optimus, have you ever raised a child? Or, do you have some kind of family?"

"I did have a sparkmate. A spouse in human terms. Her name was Elita, and we both had a daughter, named Arianna," Optimus began.

"Wow, that's nice. So, where are they now?" June asked.

"Elita perished long time ago, in the middle of the war," Optimus said sadly. "It was when our daughter was barely able to walk. I tried my best to protect Arianna. But in the end, she was taken from me. Megatron abducted Arianna to be used as hostage, and he brought her when he took exodus to Earth long time ago."

"Oh...I'm so sorry..." June apologized. "What happened to Arianna then...?"

Optimus was silent, he shut his optics painfully. "She too, was gone..."

June gasped silently when she heard Optimus lost all of his family. "Optimus, I...I'm sorry for your loss..."

"Elita was a warrior like the rest of us, and she knew the risk of her involvement in the war. I was well aware of it, that we might lose our lives at any time. But Arianna..." Optimus trailed off. "She was still a young sparkling, and it saddened me to think that her life was cut very short."

"That Megatron killed her?" June asked.

"No, not Megatron. Although he was the beginning of everything," Optimus gritted in anger. "If only I could do better of protecting Arianna..."

* * *

Aria was riding on top of Arcee when they were strolling on the mountain. Aria kept a close watch on her scanner.

"We're almost there," Aria said as Arcee took a right turn.

Then as they turned right, a big boulder rolled down from upper cliff. Arcee was barely dodged it.

"Ratchet was true about this mountain being unstable," Arcee said as she screeched on the dirt.

"But it's certainly weird if that big thing rolling down all of the sudden..." Aria looked up to the source of the rollout. And much to her delight, there were vibrations and bumping sounds coming from above, "Feeling like climbing?" she asked.

* * *

The two femmes climbed up, and they could see a big hole leading to underground cavern from there. And inside that big cavern, Starscream and Airachnid were fighting, but it seemed like Airachnid got the upper hand. That spider bot got 8 limbs when her enemy only had four. With extra limbs, she could fight Starscream toe-to-toe while securing her energon chunk at the same time.

"Airachnid..." Arcee growled dangerously when she saw her nemesis.

"Jackpot, huh?" Aria couldn't believe Airachnid was there, but she kept the words in as she didn't want to piss her already angered mentor and senior. She was surprised to see two Decepticons fighting each other, but they were Decepticon alright. "So, what should we do? I don't think we have the reason to...HEY!?" much to her shock, Arcee leapt down to the cavern. "Miss Arcee, WAIT!" her warning was too late.

Arcee landed in front of Airachnid, eventually stopping the two's fight. The blue motorcycle clearly targeted the spider bot, as she glared menacingly and pounced on her immediately.

"Arcee, what a surprise to see you here," Airachnid was rather delighted to see her nemesis. She leapt back to avoid Arcee's kick.

"Airachnid, I shall finish you here and now!" Arcee put her fists ready, she was clearly thirsty for revenge.

"Oh, why so serious? Is this about your boy Jack, and his mother?" the spider bot laughed evilly. "How are they now? Did I manage to entertain them last time? If they're not pleased, I won't mind to give them the second visit."

"You ARE NOT going to touch them anymore!" with that, the blue motorcycle charged at the spider with blades ready. When she already hated Airachnid with burning desire, targeting Jack and his mom days before was even worse, and Arcee wasn't going to let her away with it.

"Weren't you the one who taught me not to do reckless act...?" above, the ponytail girl face palmed herself, frustrated as their undercover mission turned into the worse. She watched as Airachnid and Arcee were engaging in fight, and she wasn't going to interrupt them, as she might receive some punishment from her mentor. But, Starscream there clearly wanted to take some advantage to the distracted femmes.

"At least I will have my entertainment," she said, as she too leapt to the hole. In mid air, she transformed to Autobot, and landed in front of Starscream.

"YOU!" the jet immediately recognized the femme.

"Hello, remember me?" Aria stood protectively in front of Arcee's battlefield. "Now, I'm not going to try anything funny to you, as long as you stay out."

"From them? Of course, everyone knows to stay out from femmes brawl, especially that spider bot, even though she stole my thing," Starscream replied with a shrug.

"Your thing?" Aria frowned.

"Uh, forget about that!" Starscream realized he was about to slip. "Oh yeah, I have some things to speak privately with you, new recruit of Autobot."

"Really?"

"Yeah, first of all, Lord Megatron seems to have some interest on you," Starscream continued.

Hearing that Decepticon warlord's name made Aria's spine shivering. "What does he want with me?" but, she wasn't scared nonetheless. Because if she could, she really wanted to set her eyes on the one who separated Arianna from Optimus in first place.

"Just some confirmation, because, you resembles _a little bit_ with certain femme," the jet continued again.

Aria immediately knew that the jet was talking about Arianna, but she was careful not to slip out.

"Oh really? Then your leader must have some trouble with his eyes," she simply replied. But then, she felt a strange wave from her back, she knew that something was coming. In last second she ducked, and Arcee was flying past her, crashing to Starscream instead. "Miss Arcee?"

"GET OFF ME!" both of Seeker and Autobot immediately separated themselves.

Aria slowly turned around to see Airachnid was standing behind her. What was worse, she was very close and staring to the little femme. Aria admitted it, the spider bot was creepy all the way. The sea-green femme immediately stood up and brought out her cannon for protection.

"Wow, a new recruit? What a nice looking little sparking you have here, Arcee," Airachnid was smiling evilly to the girl. "Hello there, little darling, you're beautiful. My name is Airachnid, what's yours?" then, she inched closer in her spider mode.

Arcee immediately dashed and kicked the spider aside. "You're not going to touch her as well!" but then, the motorcycle fell to her knees and groaned in pain.

"Miss Arcee! You're injured!?" Aria was alarmed Arcee was leaking energon from her waist and left leg. She was about to help the older femme, before the latter prevented her from coming any closer.

"Stay back, Aria!" Arcee ordered her, as she held her waist, and struggling to stand up. "She's mine...!" but she could still growl to her archenemy. Then seconds later, she lunged to the spider only to be tossed harshly again to the rock wall.

"MISS ARCEE!" Aria was in horror as her idol was thrashed like a rag doll. That was it, she was going to blast that spider.

"I would suggest you sit out from this one, little femme. Or, Aria, isn't it?" Starscream said, "That spider is pretty handful, especially for little sparkling like you. How if you just come with me to see Lord Megatron. You will be the guest star of our warship today." The jet was like a kidnapper acting nicely to his about-to-be kidnapped children.

"Don't treat me like a little child!" Aria was having enough, as she aimed her cannon to the Seeker and sent the powerful blast she had. With two or three white blasts, Starscream was tossed far enough as well.

"AUGH!" now, the Seeker knew that the little femme was pretty dangerous, not to mention, she was pretty pissed off right now. Everyone knew to stay out from enraged femme, so, Starscream called it retreat. He transformed to jet and soared off.

"Coward," the sea-green femme muttered, before turning her attention to the two others. Airachnid was grabbing Arcee's neck and hung her in mid air.

"This is why, it's so much fun to play with you, Arcee," Airachnid whispered close. "Because, you have too many weak spots," She failed to notice one powerful white shot coming from her side, she was blasted aside and eventually let Arcee go from her grip.

"Don't you dare to touch her!" Aria aimed her cannon to the spider, ready for another shot.

"Oh, it's you again, little darling. Rescuing your friend, I assume? You're such a good girl. I think we may be able to get close connection pretty soon, Aria, isn't it?" Airachnid transformed to spider mode and she crawled all the way to Aria, with very evil grin on her face.

"I said, don't touch her...!" Arcee struggled to stand up again, then, she got webbed by the spider to the ground.

"And I said, stay away from my business," Airachnid said. "Now, where are we again? Oh, you're not too beautiful with such look."

True, Aria was giving her menacing glare to the spider. "She's my teacher," she growled.

"Oh really, how sweet. To think Arcee has so many people around her, I'm bit jealous," the spider giggled. "But look at you, so young, so fresh, and your armor! I have never seen anyone with such gleaming and beautiful appearance like you. That's it, I'm going to make you the first place trophy in my case. Which one you prefer, agonizing or excruciating, or beauty sleep?"

"I will take; fight back!" Aria wasn't going to wait for the spider to make the first move, she unsheathed her two blades and charged at Airachnid.

Well, it wasn't the wisest decision as she was practically at smaller size than Airachnid. The spider lady defended herself from the blade using her limbs. Then, Airachnid scratched Aria's arm, made it leaking White Energon.

"That's not in the option, Aria," Airachnid said when she deployed all of her blades. "If you're not going to choose, let it to the older one, will you?"

"I'm not a little kid," Aria said as she rubbed her injured arm. She wasn't in the mood of fighting the spider bot, since she knew she was at disadvantage. Aria deployed her cannon and fired it at Airachnid. She managed to throw Airachnid pretty far. Aria took the chance to save Arcee.

"Hang on!" she used her blade to free the motorcycle from the webbing. When the thread came off, the White Autobot deployed her syringe and starting to heal her mentor. Turned out the wounds on her were pretty severe, small dose of White Energon wasn't going to make it.

"What were you thinking, Miss Arcee?! Engaging to enemy territory all by yourself when you once taught me the otherwise?!" the sea-green femme asked.

"STAY OUT OF MY WAY!" the motorcycle yelled in anger as she pushed away the hand from her body. As the result, the white energon transfer wasn't completed, leaving some wounds on her unhealed.

Aria was shocked nonetheless, it was the first time ever Arcee yelled at her. Arcee had never yelled, even if she made a mistake during the tutor. The half-Autobot looked directly into the optics, burning with hatred and anger.

"I said, STAY OUT of my way! I will have that spider's head for what she had done to Tailgate!" Arcee was so engulfed in revenge. "And Jack! I will never let her get close to him again!" and with that, she put herself on her feet again.

"Miss Arcee, not now! You're in bad shape!" the girl was still in shock after being yelled harshly, she was more concerned of Arcee who was in unstable mind.

"Don't interfere with my business!" the blue motorcycle grabbed her student's shoulder and pushed her little body aside. "You absolutely had no idea what I've been through, and what she had done to me...! Now stay away or you too..." she hissed dangerously.

Aria wasn't about to back down, she pushed away the hand on her shoulder, and she grabbed both of Arcee's shoulder instead.

"Listen, I know what you've been through, okay? Because I also went through the same thing!" Aria stressed her point. "Between you and Airachnid isn't really my business, but let's face the fact now, you got yourself in very dangerous situation! Is this revenge thing really worth for your life?!"

With those words, Arcee's mind snapped back to reality. She then realized that she indeed almost got herself killed by Airachnid. Not only once, every time she engaged Airachnid with burning hatred, she put her own life at line as well. Her thought then went to Optimus, her teammates, and on top of that, Jack. If she died right now, they surely would be devastated, and she didn't want to pass before seeing their faces for the last time, or doing something better than revenge.

"Now, calm down," Aria sighed in relief as her mentor finally calmed down. "Listen, I don't mean to...WHOA!" she didn't have a chance to finish, as Airachnid fired her thread to Aria's leg and pulled her like fishing line. As the little femme crashed in front of her, the spider immediately pinned her body down with the spidery limbs.

"Got you," Airachnid smiled victoriously.

It was too hard for the smaller femme to break free, and Aria cursed herself for letting her guard down. Airachnid was curious as she saw Aria's injured right arm. It leaked out White Energon. The spider haven't seen that kind of Energon, she used her finger to take the sample, and examined it.

"Hmm, what's this? Energon? The color is not right..." Airachnid questioned the white liquid on her finger. But before she could taste it, Arcee jumped her from behind, eventually releasing the spider's captor.

"Aria, are you alright?!" Arcee asked in worry. She kicked the spider away from her student.

"Yeah, still in one piece," the half-Autobot was pleased to see Arcee back to her normal self, as she slowly gathered herself up.

"So that's it," Airachnid grinned even more evil, "That's why you want to protect that girl so badly. I've read it from old history files back on Cybertron. Something about _White Energon Cybertronian_, I think?"

Arcee's shocked expression confirmed Airachnid's theory. The blue motorcycle was now even more wary, as her student might be the spider's primary target.

"I have to say, you Autobots get very nice stuff this time," Airachnid mused. "White Cybertronian, even Megatron has no such luxury."

"She's my student, not a stuff!" Arcee yelled back in fury.

"I know Arcee. But as a scavenger, I won't waste any chance to get my hands good stuff," Airachnid hissed.

"I won't let you!" Arcee launched herself to Airachnid. Without so much hatred and revenge, Arcee could fair better with her nemesis.

Aria watched the fight scene in awe, that was why she idolized Arcee so much. She was even more touched when Arcee said she was her student openly. But, she felt uneasy as she touched her Energon-coated hand. Now one Decepticon already knew her secret. Even Arcee told her that Airachnid preferred to work alone, there was a slim chance that the half-Autobot would be targeted by whole Decepticon as well. She shook her head, she wasn't going to be scared off that kind of thing.

"HAH!" Arcee delivered her most awesome uppercut to Airachnid.

"GO MISS ARCEE!" Aria's eyes were glittering as she saw the awesome sight.

The spider bot was also gravely injured this time, and finally called it retreat. "We will see each other next time, Arcee, and Aria. We will have nice disclosure, before I get my hands on your throat," she winked to the younger femme, as she transformed to spider mode and crawled away hurriedly.

"I'll scrap you next time," Arcee wasn't going to pursue Airachnid, as she was concerned more of Aria. "You okay?" she asked as she walked to the half-Autobot's side.

"I'm fine," Aria smiled to her mentor. "That was awesome, you have to teach me that move, Miss Arcee."

"Absolutely," Arcee replied with a smile, but it faded quickly. "Aria, you're leaking!"

Aria looked down to see her body began to crack and leak in several places, those were the spots where Airachnid pinned her before. "Oh you're right, but no big deal."

"Big deal. Arcee to base, we need GroundBridge!"

* * *

Back to the base, Aria was patched up by Ratchet when Arcee reported about their mission to Optimus.

"Optimus, I'm ready for any punishment you have in mind," she admitted her mistake. "I was the cause of her secret being spilled out. And now, she might be targeted by Decepticon."

"Arcee, you did a great job of protecting Aria," the leader reassured her. "As long as you realized your mistake and not wanting to repeat it again, no punishment shall be brought to anybody."

"But..."

"Miss Arcee, Sir Optimus!" Aria walked to their place, she was back in her human mode.

"Aria, I have heard everything from Arcee. I have to say, you performed admirably," Optimus praised with a smile.

"Thank you, boss," Aria also replied with a smile. Then as Optimus left them, Aria turned her attention to Arcee, "Hey there."

"Hey there. So, how are you feeling now?"

"Much better," Aria gave her usual thumb up.

"Aria, I want to apologize, for the things I said back then..." Arcee said.

"It's okay," the ponytail nodded, her eyes showed no malice or anger at all.

"Then again, you saved me today. Thank you, really," the motorcycle added.

"Don't mention it. After all, it's your safety that I concerned about," Aria walked closer and touched Arcee's leg affectionally. "Yeah, I might be not at right place to say that, I'm your student after all. But because you're my mentor and far more superior than me, it's you who always get in greater danger than me. I can't help but being worried."

"After all of those, you still want me to be your teacher?" the blue femme asked sadly. She was the girl's teacher, but she already did so much bad things right in front of her.

"You're more than just teacher for me, you're my teammate, a part of family who is so important to me," Aria replied softly.

Arcee crouched down to get better view. "Thank you," she touched the girl's face with her finger.

* * *

It was nightfall, when Airachnid got out from the abandoned energon mine. She lost to her nemesis and her grasp to the White girl, but she got a chunk of Energon on her hand. However, that chunk alone didn't satisfy her.

"Airachnid!"

Airachnid turned around to see Starscream was there. "Starscream, I thought you were running on your tailpipe long ago? Why are you still here?"

"Well, because I have some...unfinished matter with you," surprisingly, this time Starscream's voice wasn't very angry.

"Oh, don't tell me, about this?" Airachnid held up the Energon chunk. "You're pretty stubborn, aren't you?"

"Ah, don't be mistaken, Airachnid. What I mean is, you can have that if you want. In exchange, can you keep secret of what we were talking about from anybody else, including Megatron?" the reason Starscream was still sticking around, because he was afraid that his little action would be spilled over.

"You have to know that I have no interest in working with you or Megatron. Here, I don't need it," Airachnid threw the Energon chunk to the ground.

"Oh, what's the deal?" Starscream was surprised. "You don't want it?"

"I still have my supply, and besides, I already set my eyes to something _even better _than this," the spider said.

"Oh yeah? You got good stuff in that mine? Care to tell me what?" the jet was curious.

Airachnid smirked. "Don't wanna," with that, she turned around, prepared to leave. "Because I don't want you or Megatron stealing my stuff later," she transformed to helicopter, and flew off leaving the very confused Seeker behind.

* * *

Review please :3


	6. Metal Attraction

**Alright, this is where the story would be taking very different twist than my older story. Don't have any idea on how my old stories like, don't bother. I already deleted them anyway, so nobody would get a spoiler. Kinda selfish? Well, just say it. But I'm taking story writing very seriously.**

**And, since this is a rewrite, I'll try to bring all chapters out in short time. But first, I want to hear the readers' opinion. I after all, can't continue if there's no feedback or review. I write story not only to bring out my ideas, I want my stories to be read. **

**Enjoy. **

* * *

"_Every memorial in its time has a different goal"_

* * *

"Let's see, Aria..." Starscream was in Nemesis data room. He was very curious over Aria, so he decided to do some research. What was with this girl that Megatron took interest with? Aside for the fact that she resembled Arianna, of course. "Judging by that femme's age, she must have came online a while ago."

Starscream was browsing through the data of Cybertronian newborns for the last few eons. However, he came up empty with 'Aria'.

"Agh! This is why I hate machine!" Starscream banged the keyboard. "Wait, that girl is also half human. Let's see what the human database could have in store..."

Starscream began to hack into some classified government database. Not a tough job for super technology of Cybertronian to hack human's security firewall. He browsed and browsed, but nothing really interesting. Until, he stumbled upon one file containing Aria's file.

"Finally, a crack!" Starscream then read through the file.

In short, Starscream finally learnt that Aria was a techno organic produced by illegal experiment. And the robot used for the experiment was Arianna, Optimus' daughter. And there was something more, Aria was a White Cybertronian.

"White Cybertronian? Let's see..." Starscream browsed through the Decepticon database again.

* * *

"Miss Arcee, Jack!" Aria greeted when she entered command center.

"Hey Aria," Jack greeted back.

"So Miss Arcee, you're up for a spar?" Aria asked.

"As the schedule mentioned it, after I finish some chores and..." Arcee trailed off.

"Arcee, a vehicular form is approaching," Ratchet cut in.

"Decepticons?" Arcee asked warily.

As they zoomed into the screen, it was clear that a white car entered the base.

"Mom," Jack face-palmed.

"Again?" Arcee asked.

"She worries," Jack reasoned.

June's car rolled inside command center. She got out of her car and spotted her son immediately.

"Hi, honey!" June dashed and gave Jack a hug.

"Hey," Jack nervously answered.

"Finished my shift early at the hospital. So I thought I'd swing by. Good to see you again, doctor," June greeted, earning nod from Ratchet, "Arcee, and hello Aria. So, where's Optimus?"

"On a scouting mission with Bumblebee. Sorry to disappoint," Ratchet answered.

"And I wore heels and everything," June stated.

"MOM!" Jack cried out.

"That's odd..." Ratchet mumbled aloud as he watched his monitor.

"Ratch, something wrong?" Aria asked when she approached the CMO.

"Look at this. This is an extremely unusual magnetic flux. For any planet," Ratchet said.

* * *

The Decepticons too picked up the same magnetic reading. Soundwave showed the reading to Megatron.

"I recognize this magnetic signature, Soundwave. And it would be unfortunate to have a Decepticon invention such as this used against us," Megatron remarked.

"I will secure the weapon, Lord Megatron," Breakdown said.

Knock Out was true when he said he was short of supply. Breakdown's eye remained lost, and being covered with eye-patch. Kinda like blue pirate. And the news that he was abducted by humans wasn't helping at all.

"Breakdown, if you can be bested by mere humans, what chance do you have against the Autobots?" Megatron retorted.

"Allow me to redeem myself, master. What I have lost is a constant reminder that I must never again fail you," Breakdown pleaded.

Meanwhile, a cackle could be heard from the data room. Starscream just learnt about the nature of White Cybertronian.

"White Cybertronian possessed great deal of firepower, immune system and endurance. Their White Energon carries the healing attribute which could heal injury and disease...!" Starscream read aloud. "This is...intriguing!"

"_Starscream, come and see me at once!"_ Megatron commed him.

"Oh yes, yes, Lord Megatron, right away!" Starscream zoomed out of the data room.

* * *

Pretty soon, Bulkhead rolled in the base with Raf and Miko. Both of the kids were in their fun time together.

"Did you feel the Gs on the last turn?" Miko asked excitedly, "Bulkhead's an animal...!"

Miko and Raf stopped their laughters when they spotted June. Again, she was there to nag at them.

"Remember when this used to be a secret clubhouse?" Miko mumbled to Raf quietly. She wasn't all pleased to see the woman.

"Uh, don't worry, Ms. Darby. We were wearing seatbelts," Raf reassured the nurse.

"I'm sure you were, Rafael. Hi, Miko, how's school going?" June asked.

"Why? What did you hear?" Miko immediately demanded.

"I'm sure you're doing just fine. Right Miko?" Aria intercepted.

"Right! Right! That's my girl!" Miko playfully slapped Aria's back.

"Jack, let's do this thing," Arcee said as she brought up a rope.

"But I just got here!" June protested, "I brought sandwiches."

"Mom, look, I really need to help Arcee test the upgraded tracking system," Jack remarked.

"Well, just be careful," June said.

"There's nothing to be careful about. It's a routine diagnostic," Arcee reassured.

"Are you sure you need Jack for that?" June asked.

That snapped Arcee's last string. The blue femme stopped in mid-track and groaned in annoyance.

"Miss Arcee, calm down..." Aria whispered.

"Uh-oh," Bulkhead flinched.

"Bulkhead, Aria! I need you back in the field to investigate an odd magnetic disturbance!" Ratchet proclaimed.

"What? I have a training schedule this afternoon..." Aria objected.

"If Aria's busy, I'll go with!" Miko decided as she dashed forward.

"Whoa!" Bulkhead held Miko back, "Stay put, Miko."

"That's right. I'll be going with Bulkhead. This is for your safety, Miko," Aria added.

Miko scoffed as she walked back.

"Why aren't you going with them?" June asked curiously.

"Someone thinks it's not safe," Miko scoffed.

"It's safe with Aria?" June asked again.

"I am armed, Ms. Darby," Aria reminded the nurse.

"But it's safe for Jack to go with Arcee?" June was sort of asking her son's caretaker's ability.

"Mom! Totally different!" Jack protested.

"Oh how?" June countered.

"Mother knows best, Jack. Wait up, you two! I'm coming with!" Arcee called after Bulkhead and Aria. Three of them then disappeared to the portal.

Jack knew that his mom hit Arcee's nerve. Jack was aware that he was not a little child. And so, he really didn't like when June treated him like that.

"What? What did I say?" June wanted to know when Jack stared at her.

* * *

Megatron finally allowed Breakdown to carry on the mission. The blue truck was in field and immediately picked up a signal in the desert.

"Jackpot!" Breakdown cheered.

Breakdown approached the big pile of rock, and he smashed it with his hammer. He soon came in sight with a certain metal gauntlet. He picked up the object and observed it. Soon, he felt like something moving on his side. He looked around warily, and spotted Airachnid hanging on the rocks with her spidery limbs. Airachnid then launched forward and tossed Breakdown away. The metal gauntlet then came off Breakdown's hand.

"For me? You shouldn't have," Airachnid remarked as she picked it up.

"I didn't," Breakdown stood up, grabbed the metal gauntlet and smacked Airachnid aside. , "I heard a rumor about a rogue 'Con. How about I hog-tie you and haul you in?"

Breakdown charged with his hammer ready. But Airachnid just dodged every of his attack.

"Huh, the primitive type," Airachnid said., "Not much for depth perception anymore, are you?"**  
**

"Well, not much for looks anymore," Breakdown aimed his shoulder cannon.

The blue truck fired a tracking missile to Airachnid. The spider bot disappeared to the pile of rocks. Breakdown wondered where she had gone, until he heard drilling sound from his below. Airachnid drilled from his below, and pulled the blue truck underground. She managed to bury Breakdown six feet under. After some while, Airachnid emerged from the underground,.

"It was a lovely burial."

Airachinid began to walk away, and she could hear some voice from the burial site.

"Sorry. Can't quite understand you," Airachnid mumbled.

Soon enough, Breakdown pulled himself out of the underground. And he was more than willing to give some payback.

* * *

Meanwhile, Arcee, Bulkhead and Aria were walking on the cliff area. Aria was sitting on Bulkhead's shoulder. They knew that Arcee wasn't in good mood. After some incident with June, of course.

"Don't take it so personal, Arcee. Jack's mother's just…protective," Bulkhead pointed out.

"Well, I protected his son for months before she had a clue. Suddenly, she wakes up to reality and I'm not enough," Arcee remarked sadly.

"She knew the fact alright. That her son was hanging around with giant metal robots. Not to mention the giant metal robots are in middle of brawl with another metal robots. I mean, a normal human would just freak out," Aria remarked.

"No kidding!"

They turned around to see that Miko was there. That girl knew how to sneak and followed them to the field work.

"Can't we ban her from the base?" Miko asked.

"Miko, how did you…?" Bulkhead trailed off.

"Ratchet, we need a bridge," Arcee spoke into her commlink.

"Wait! Don't send me back to helicopter mum! It's just that…I miss the way things were," Miko objected.

"Strike that, Ratchet. Its only recon," Arcee finally let it slide.

"Are you sure?" Aria asked worriedly.

"She's safe with us," Arcee reasoned when she continued to walk. She wanted to prove that she was able to protect the kids, unlike what June thought about her.

Bulkhead bent down and offered Miko his palm.

"Sweet!" Miko cheered as she jumped onto Bulkhead's shoulder, "Hey there Aria!"

"Nice to have you on the lovely ride, Miko," Aria mused.

"Bulk, crank up track seven!" Miko instructed.

"Track seven?" Arcee repeated in confusion.

"Oh, you wouldn't want to know, Miss Arcee," Aria noted.

Bulkhead activated his speaker and loud heavy shriek metal boomed over. Miko and Bulkhead just danced around, following the music. Aria just rolled her eyes for her friends' little antic. Arcee, however, wasn't in the same mood for loud shriek metal.

"Don't you think that's a little loud for recon?" Arcee protested, causing Bulkhead to turn the music off, "A scout should be silent but deadly."

That caused Bulkhead and Miko to look at each other and burst out laughing. Aria just giggled a bit as she slapped her forehead lightly. Earth's saying could be little devilish, especially for those who were completely oblivious.

"What? What did I say?" Arcee asked in confusion.

"Silent but deadly means something completely different on Earth," Bulkhead cackled as he walked ahead.

"I'll tell you later when I have the chance. That's if you _really _want to know, Miss Arcee..." Aria said. She did know what 'silent but deadly' meant.

"Guys! Let's get our recon on!" Miko declared.

"I always take point...!" Arcee began protesting.

"I know, but Miko likes to be upfront so she can see," Bulkhead explained before walking away with the two girls on his shoulders.

"No matter where I turn, I'm the third wheel," Arcee grumbled in disappointment.

"Looks like Ratchet's magnetic flux is coming from..." Bulkhead trailed off, and they came to the end of the cliff.

And that was when they came into view of Breakdown versus Airachnid. Deja vu much, Arcee and Bulkhead found their own rivals in middle of nowhere. Fighting each other nonetheless. Both Airachnid and Breakdown pulled and prevented each other from reaching the device.

"Airachnid," Arcee growled.

"And Breakdown! Both of your arch enemies! And they're mashing it up!" Miko stated.

"Seems like this day's going to be interesting..." Aria commented. "They met each other and just went straight to the brawling bot?"

"Don't think so, they're fighting over that!" Bulkhead pointed to the metal gauntlet lying on the ground.

"The source of the magnetic disturbance," Arcee realized.

"Alright. What's the plan?" Miko asked excitedly.

"Do we really have to explain for you, Miko?" Aria glanced to the pigtail girl.

The protocol was always clear, the bots went into fight when the human just stayed behind and take cover. Miko scoffed as Bulkhead put her and Aria down to the ground.

"Miko, don't move," Bulkhead instructed.

"We mean it," Aria added.

"Come on, you got the VIP when I'm just the regular audience?!" Miko pouted to Aria.

"There's reason for that, Miko," Aria argued when she transformed to Autobot form, revealing her point. "And no, I'm not the VIP. You are the VIP, that's why you have to stay behind."

"Aria, you are going to stay and provide cover for us as well as watching over Miko," Arcee said. "I knew Airachnid. After our last encounter she definitely targets you for now."

"Thanks for your concern, Miss Arcee," Aria said when she deployed her blasters. "I'll take the back liner position gladly. But I'm planning on score some points."

Meanwhile, Breakdown got his hand on the gauntlet, that caused Airachnid to hunt him with burning desire. Airachnid pounced the blue bot with her limbs, causing him to fall over and release the device. The spider bot moved to reach it, and then Arcee's blast knocked it farther. Airachnid looked up to see the three Autobots.

"Arcee, and look, you've brought another partner for me to snuff. Along with another treasure for me to snatch," Airachnid stated.

"Hey, I'm not a scrap metal you can scavenge!" Aria protested with her hands on hip. She really started to hate Airachnid. She was creepy, scary, and annoying at same time.

"That would be Bulkhead and that strange girl," Breakdown said as he stood up.

"Who asked you? And I know that half Autobot better than you," Airachnid raised the tension between the two Cons even more.

"Looks like someone has to take anger management class," Aria noted dryly.

"Launch me," Arcee requested to Bulkhead.

Bulkhead lowered his hand, and Arcee placed her foot on it. With all his might, Bulkhead launched Arcee to the mid air. Arcee did somersault before raining both Cons with her blasters. As she landed on the ground, Breakdown immediately charged forward, but Airachnid prevented him to.

"No! She's mine!" Airachnid declared as she went for Arcee.

Bulkhead was already jumped down, and the green bot smacked the distracted Breakdown.

"Watch out for...!" Bulkhead began warning.

"Got it!" Arcee finished as she unfolded her blades. She was too used of Airachnid's fighting styles, alright.

Airachnid and Arcee began to exchange blow. Airachnid's extra limbs usually provided her with advantages, but no more with Arcee. With one strike, Arcee managed to scratch Airachnid's face. Arcee and Bulkhead then stood with their backs facing each other.

"Look at that pose! So cool! They're really good together!" Aria observed with excitement.

"Whoa!" Miko gasped, then she took out her cellphone for taking photo, "Smack down for the scrapbook."

"Make sure you take the best showdown, Miko! I want some for my room wallpaper!" Aria was rather excited. But then, she spotted the gauntlet. "Well, I was told to be back liner..." she reverted back to human form, and began to jumped down the rocks.

"Where are you going? You're told to stay behind remember?" Miko asked.

"Securing the magnetic device, what else? They're having their hands full. Plus, you know better than letting any kind of strange device fall into Cons' hand," Aria said as she reached the lower area, and began sneaking her way to the thing.

The Cybertronians were equipped with their own fights. Arcee versus Airachnid, and Bulkhead versus Breakdown. Airachnid and Arcee were exchanging swift and sharp blows, when Bulkhead and Breakdown exchanged heavy and powerful smashes. Aria used the distraction to reach the gauntlet.

But Airachnid immediately noticed Aria. She fired her thread and webbed the ponytail straight to the rock wall.

"HEY!" Aria shrieked when she was webbed tight. "That's not polite at all, Black Widow!"

"Aria!" Arcee dashed to save Aria, but she was held back by Airachnid.

"Think you can snatch me with this...?!" Aria tried to transform to Autobot form to get free. It took several attempts, but finally she broke out of her webbing, and landed on the ground. She widened her eyes when Bulkhead threw Breakdown straight into her. Aria immediately jumped away to dodge the blue Con. Arcee kicked Airachnid away and soon the spider lady joined Breakdown on the ground.

"BULKHEAD! Look where you threw!" Aria scolded when she walked to Bulkhead's place.

"Sorry, girl," Bulkhead apologized.

"Aria, I told you to stay behind!" Arcee came and scolded her student.

"Yep, I was staying behind, I wasn't interrupting your showdowns, right? Collecting the treasure left behind is a back liner's job too, isn't it?" Aria argued back.

Airachnid and Breakdown groaned when they gathered themselves. Breakdown noticed the gauntlet lying just next to him. Curiosity filled him, and so Breakdown picked up the gauntlet.

"Thank you," Breakdown thanked as he activated it.

"Do you even know what that does?" Airachnid asked, "It's not a toy!"

Airachnid knew, but Breakdown didn't. Because Airachnid knew, she knew better than to stick around. Immediately, Airachnid made her escape by drilling to underground. Arcee pursued her, and shot several rounds to the hole, hoping that at least one of them could hit. Soon, something strange happened.

"HEY!" Miko yelled when her phone and changes flew out.

"HEY!" Bulkhead grunted when his body was dragged closer to Breakdown.

"What's...going on?" Arcee was dragged on as well.

"Whoa...whoa...!" Aria cried out, she too, was dragged.

After being dragged, the three of them were lifted high in mid air by the magnetic pull. Miko's phone and changes also hovered in mid air.

"I don't like this...!" Aria muttered, then suddenly she got an idea. She transformed back to human, and voila, she was freed from the magnetic force. Aria fell with loud thud to the ground. But Breakdown and Arcee weren't free yet.

"What's this switch do?" Breakdown pondered aloud as he pressed a button.

After that, Miko's phone and changes stuck onto Bulkhead. Breakdown then threw both Autobots far back and crashing to cliff wall.

"Megatron's gonna love this," Breakdown noted. He transformed to vehicle and drove away.

"Miss Arcee!" Aria stood up and ran to the rocks.

"Bulkhead!" Miko soon joined her. "The 'Con's getting away! Hey! My phone!" Miko tried to pull her phone off Bulkhead, but it didn't budge a bit. "It stuck!"

"Really?" Aria observed.

"Where's Arcee?" Bulkhead asked worriedly.

"Why don't you just marry her?" Miko groaned in annoyance.

"I'm right behind you," Arcee answered.

"Where?" Bulkhead demanded as he finally stood up.

"Uh-oh, let's just say she's got your back," Aria said after she peeked over Bulkhead's back.

Bulkhead turned around, only to reveal that Arcee was stuck onto his back. Really, stuck.

"Think you can take a picture of this?" Aria mused out, she couldn't help but chuckle.

"Scrap...!" Arcee grunted, she tried to pull herself off, but in vain. "Aria, how come you got free?"

"Simple, just hiding my metal skin away," Aria replied.

* * *

"Breakdown here. I'm gonna need a brid..." Breakdown still drove, until he stumbled onto rolling boulder. He took a sharp turn to dodge it, but that led him being stuck into some spider thread. The blue Con transformed and tried to free himself, but no use.

And above his head, Airachnid was watching her trap worked perfectly.

* * *

"_You've been magnetized? Together?_"

Ratchet asked when Aria and Miko tried to separate Arcee and Breakdown. Even with Aria's upsized bot form, it was an impossible task.

"They're inseparable!" Miko cried out.

"No kidding...and I'm serious," Aria added.

"And the device that did this is on its way to Megatron," Bulkhead added.

* * *

"A polarity gauntlet. A deceptively simple but diabolical creation," Ratchet realized.

"_Just tell me you can unhitch us, Ratchet," _Arcee asked.

"It may simply be a residual magnetic charge providing your current…attraction," Ratchet said.

"_THEY'RE NOT ATTRACTED TO ONE ANOTHER!"_ Miko protested.

"_But they DO look good together..." _Aria added.

"But I'm afraid retrieving the gauntlet is our surest bet for reversing its effect. Once Megatron gets his hands on the gauntlet…," Ratchet trailed off.

"He'll be using it for a whole lot more than attaching notes and family photos to the fridge," Jack finished.

"Jack, I'm not following," June said.

"Madam, we are forged of metal alloy. If Megatron could repel us at the flick of a switch, we might never again have a shot at him," Ratchet explained to June.

"Instant force field," Raf noted.

"Worse yet, he might use it to meld us all into a scrap pile," Ratchet remarked, "The good news is the gauntlet hasn't travelled far. I would strongly advise pursuit."

* * *

"We could go a whole lot faster on wheels," Bulkhead said as he pounded his fist to his palm.

"Whoa whoa whoa, and snap me in half?" Arcee objected.

"Bulk, you're grounded from using your wheels as long as Miss Arcee is still on your back," Aria reminded the green bot.

"Right," Bulkhead said.

"Sweet!" Miko cheered, "I'll take point."

"Not this time, kid," Arcee declined.

"What? But you said...!" Miko began protesting.

"That was recon! This is war," Arcee received no argument.

* * *

_"I'm not risking your well-being just so you can hit your daily adrenaline quota. Ratchet, Miko needs a bridge. Oh yeah, count Aria in,_"

"Coming up," Ratchet nodded.

"_ARGH! You think Jack's mum is bad? You sound just like her!_" Miko added up, she was oblivious that June could hear it as well.

"Is that such a bad thing?" June asked to the others.

"I'm gonna go over here," Jack decided to move away.

* * *

"Are you two sure about this?" Aria asked to Bulkhead and Arcee. "I mean, you two aren't in condition for fight."

"Aria, I should warn you. Airachnid is still close by, it will be too dangerous if you linger around and we can't keep up with her," Arcee warned. "Airachnid is mine."

"Breakdown's mine too. We will take them, our ways!" Bulkhead pounded his chest.

"Alright, alright, the places were already being reserved, nothing left for me," Aria surrendered.

* * *

Miko and Aria arrived back at base. Miko was certainly not in good mood.

"Well, glad to have you back," Ratchet noted dryly before walking back working on monitors.

"Miko, you know better than going into battlefield," Raf commented.

Before Miko could protest, the comm link beeped.

"_Optimus to base, do you read?"_ it was from Optimus.

"Optimus, what is it?" Ratchet asked.

* * *

"We were just having a meteor falling in our scouting location," Optimus reported.

True, in front of them was a big crate. In middle of the crate was a medium-sized meteor rocks, still smoking after the entry to atmosphere. Bumblebee was staring at it intently. Both of them were standing few feet away from the meteorite crate.

"_Falling star?_!" Miko asked excitedly.

"_Uh...meteor, Miko..._" Raf corrected.

"Bumblebee, keep your distance," Optimus warned his scout. "Ratchet, do you get any unknown reading from my location?"

"_...Negative, old friend. Just in case, you might want to bring a sample for me." _

Optimus and Bumblebee got down into the crate to get a closer look at the meteor. Just as they stood before the meteor, something flew and landed in front of them, it was Starscream.

"Well, well, just when I was following a strange meteorite entering this planet's atmosphere, I found the Autobots," Starscream remarked with a smirk.

"Starscream..." Optimus growled, both of he and Bumblebee took fighting position.

"Optimus Prime, it is always be my honor...to snuff your spark!" Starscream declared.

* * *

Meanwhile, Airachnid got the gauntlet on her hand, and Breakdown on her bag a.k.a spider thread.

"It fits! You know, a girl can never have too many accessories," Airachnid remarked to the tied up Breakdown.

"You were a Decepticon once. We can bring the prize to Megatron together," Breakdown offered.

"Go back to that Boys Club? I struck out on my own because I don't like to share. This will provide the perfect repellant against Bots and 'Cons alike," Airachnid refused. "Oh, but it will be bad if I repel that sweetspark Aria. Thankfully, she's not going to be repelled off..."

"I didn't know you have such attraction to younglings, especially another girl," Breakdown noted.

"Oh, not too many girls is as interesting as her, Breakdown," Airachnid smirked.

* * *

"Well, I said that, but...too bad your little girl Aria is not with you," Starscream remarked to Optimus. "I might be interested in her, as you can see. She is one kind of Cybertronian that was thought only to exist in the myth."

Optimus widened his eyes in horror, Starscream knew about Aria's nature already.

"And one more thing, she looks like your daughter, Arianna," Starscream added. "Speaking of, where is your daughter? Have you found her? Or in this case, is she even still alive?"

"That is the answer that you would not get, Starscream," Optimus stepped forward.

Optimus knew it, Starscream was Megatron's second-in-command. And therefore, he was involved in Megatron's plan of abducting Arianna. After he found out that Arianna was already gone, Optimus knew that Megatron was the one to blame, even though he wasn't directly responsible for Arianna's death. But, it wouldn't happen if Megatron just left her alone in first place.

"Let me guess, she was already dead?" Starscream smirked. "Killed by humans, to be used as lab rat, together with that Aria girl...?"

That snapped Optimus' last string, he deployed his battle mask, and charged directly to Starscream. The jet should know better than angering Optimus.

* * *

Since his wheels were grounded, Bulkhead had no other option but to walk to pursue Breakdown. Arcee was hanging and getting the free ride. Aria was sitting on Bulkhead's shoulder, she too got the free ride.

"Never had eyes on the back of my head before. Or blasters to cover my rear. And you get a built-in shield," Bulkhead remarked as he punched a hand to his chassis.

"Bulkhead, you don't really think I sound like June, do you?" Arcee asked.

"Um…?" Bulkhead asked in confusion.

"She's overprotective. I'm just…protective," Arcee justified.

"That's totally different," Bulkhead argued. "The gauntlet's close," Bulkhead reported when the scanner beeped.

They approached a deserted gas station in middle of the desert. Bulkhead deployed his cannon and advanced forward. And as he turned left, he spotted Breakdown, being wrapped in spider web. And the one responsible for that, was there too, standing before Bulkhead.

"I assume Arcee isn't far behind," Airachnid remarked.

"You might say so," Bulkhead smirked.

"Blaster hands in the air and turn around," Airachnid instructed.

"Whatever you say," Bulkhead nodded.

As instructed, Bulkhead folded back his cannon and raised his both hands. He turned around, Arcee took the chance to fire her blaster to Airachnid. Airachnid leapt back to dodge the firings, but one shot managed to knock the gauntlet away from Airachnid's hand. Because of that, the device was accidentally activated, causing every metal around to be pulled, including all the Cybertronians presented. That magnetic pull caused Breakdown to break free from the webbing. As Breakdown got the gauntlet, he immediately switched it off. Bulkhead and Arcee was surrounded by Breakdown and Airachnid.

"Still up for that truce, muscles?" Airachnid asked.

"Only because I hate Bulkhead more than I hate you," Breakdown confirmed.

Breakdown and Bulkhead began smashing each other, so did Arcee and Airachnid. The situation was rather awkward. Arcee was having difficulties since Bulkhead was moving around. Airachnid then landed a punch on Arcee's face.

"Bulkhead! Can you stay still?!" Arcee yelled.

"My bad," Bulkhead grumbled sheepishly before punching Breakdown away and turning to face Airachnid, "Need a hand?"

"No! She's mine!" Arcee objected, when Bulkhead began to fight with Airachnid.

"Two bots, one stone," Breakdown got an idea, then he activated the gauntlet.

Then, the blue Con used it to lift a heavy oil derrick. Two birds with one stone, Breakdown dropped the oil derrick on top of the two Autobots. Arcee was the only one who noticed it.

"Bulk! DUCK!" Arcee warned.

But all Bulkhead did were turning around and got smashed by the metal derrick. He fell flat on his back, and pinned Arcee under the heavy metal. Well, the giant green was heavy.

"Bulkhead, get off!" Arcee struggled to free herself, then Airachnid stepped on her hand.

"Pinned like a bug. Of course, I can think of one permanent way out of your predicament," Airachnid smirked as she raised her blades.

That statement made Arcee widening her eyes in fear.

"I'll take topside," Breakdown offered.

Breakdown swung his hammer down, but Bulkhead came to just in time. The green Wrecker blocked the hammer, and thwarted Breakdown to Airachnid. Both of the Autobots stood up, and realized that they finally separated.

"I'm free!" Arcee cheered.

The gauntlet was lying on the ground, ready to be picked by anybody. As Breakdown went to reach it, Arcee knocked him away. The small femme was proven to be tough against the bulky Con. Meanwhile, Bulkhead stood between the gauntlet and Airachnid.

"Wanna dance?" Bulkhead offered.

"You're not my type," Airachnid merely replied.

The spider lady jumped and drilled Bulkhead's face. After that, she leapt down to reach the gauntlet.

"Scrap," Bulkhead grumbled.

"Let's leave the boys to themselves," Airachnid activated the gauntlet to pull Arcee close and magnetized her left hand to the gauntlet, "That would be the 'Up Close and Personal' setting."

The nemesis fights round 2 began. Arcee was having more disadvantage because one her hand was unavailable. But, she wasn't going to be taken down that easy. Meanwhile, Breakdown and Bulkhead also started to smash each other. Breakdown managed to punch Bulkhead and crashed him into nearby oil drums. Bulkhead stood up, deployed his cannon, and blasted Breakdown away.

Arcee managed to add one more scratch into Airachnid's face. Airachnid retaliated by flipping Arcee and pinned her down to the ground.

"One hand tied, five more to play with," Airachnid pointed out, when she struck her hand into Arcee's neck. Thankfully, Arcee moved her head away just in time.

"Quality, not quantity," Arcee retorted.

Arcee pulled her left hand, and with her right hand she deactivated the gauntlet. As she kicked Airachnid away, she got the gauntlet on her hands. Airachnid nonetheless charged forward. Arcee merely activated the gauntlet to repel Airachnid away.

"Opposites do not attract," Arcee remarked with a smirk.

Breakdown and Bulkhead charged to each other with smasher objects at their hands. But as they tried to smash, they were deflected away. Breakdown fired his missile to Bulkhead. But that missile too, couldn't touch either Bulkhead or Breakdown, and just blew up in the sky.

"We can't touch metal," Breakdown noted.

"We're polarized," Bulkhead added.

"Always leave on a high note," Airachnid snatched away the gauntlet, transformed to copter and flew away.

"Bulkhead! The gauntlet!" Arcee warned.

Bulkhead knew what to do. He jumped off, and grabbed Airachnid in mid air. With one motion, Bulkhead flung the copter to Breakdown, knocking both Cons out cold. The gauntlet was dropped, and picked up by Arcee.

"Let's finish this," Bulkhead suggested excitedly.

"And risk becoming twins again?" Arcee ended the argument, and walked away.

* * *

Back on the base, the gauntlet was handed to Ratchet for study.

"Souvenir, but..." Bulkhead started.

"We don't advise indoor use," Arcee finished.

"Ugh...they even finish each other's sentences," Miko groaned.

"Miko, check it out. New battle scars," Bulkhead boasted proudly.

"Hey, Arcee!" Jack wanted to greet his partner, but being held back by his mother.

"Let the adults talk," June took the chance first, "Arcee, I think I owe you an apology."

"You do?" Arcee repeated in confusion.

"I worry. Especially when I feel like I can't control things, which with teenager, is all the time. Jack and I have always been close, especially after my husband left. And I guess it's just hard to accept that...it's changing. I mean, I knew it would someday. But you're not the type of girl that Jack would be ditching me for," June explained.

"I think we've all been a little guilty of staying attached to the way things were," Arcee remarked.

* * *

"Breakdown, you dared to return empty handed?" Megatron exclaimed in disbelief.

"No, master," Breakdown declined as he turned around to reveal Airachnid attached to his back.

"Airachnid. It has been some time," Megatron greeted.

"Lord Megatron, what can I say? It's good to be back," Airachnid remarked.

* * *

"_Ratchet..."_ Optimus' weak voice came into the comm link. "_Open...the GroundBridge..."_

Optimus' voice indicated that he was injured. That brought concern to everyone presented, but Aria was worried the most. Was something happening?

Ratchet fired up the GroundBridge, he also prepared the sick bay in case of emergency. The portal was fired up, but no one stepped inside.

"Think they need assistance?" Bulkhead asked, as he was about to step into the portal. Optimus and Bumblebee might in need of assistance.

But not for long, someone emerged. It was Bumblebee, limping inside the base. Then much to everyone's horror, he collapsed.

"BEE!" Raf cried out in horror, he and the others ran to check over Bumblebee.

"Wait, nobody touch!" Ratchet was alarmed.

Because the medic saw that Bumblebee's door wings, some parts of his chest and limbs, were rusting away. It turned brown as the result. Bumblebee was rusting, and fast. Ratchet couldn't contain his horror, as he knew of one disease that could cause such symptoms.

But why did it appear all of the sudden? And, how about Optimus?

* * *

Review please :3


	7. Rust

_"Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart"_

* * *

On board Nemesis, a groan and grunt could be heard echoing in the hallway. All drones turned around and shocked to find the one who made the voices, it was Starscream. He was walking limply, with brown rust covered his entire body. Well, he was the ship's second in command, but as he came approaching, every drones made a hasty getaway, rather disgusted by the sight.

"Knock Out...help me..." Starscream came to med-bay. His words may be the most pathetic one he ever made for his entire life.

Knock Out stopped whatever he was doing and looked at Starscream. He immediately widened his eyes in horror, and then disgust. As a medic, he surely knew what condition Starscream was currently in. And as a metropolitan boy, Knock Out actually didn't want to deal with such case.

"Oh slag, why all of the sudden...?!" Knock Out gaped.

* * *

In Autobot base, Ratchet was scanning Bumblebee real quick. He already instructed everyone, especially the Autobots, to stay away.

"It confirmed my suspicion..." Ratchet said as he read the scanner result.

"So it's really it..." Aria muttered in horror.

"What? What happened to Bee?!" Raf demanded impatiently.

"It is..." Ratchet trailed off.

* * *

"WHAT HAPPENED TO ME, KNOCK OUT?!" Starscream screeched in agony.

"Well, from all indications, it seems to be..." Knock Out trailed.

* * *

"Cosmic Rust," Ratchet/Knock Out answered.

* * *

"Cosmic Rust?! Are you sure, Ratch?!" Bulkhead gasped like the world was going to end.

"What is 'Cosmic Rust'?!" Raf demanded.

"Cosmic Rust is a microorganism that devours Cybertronian metals. An infected Cybertronian starts growing a rust-like substance all over their body. Eventually, the corrosion causes the body to waste away to nothing..." Ratchet explained.

"WHAT?!" Raf cried out in horror.

"Extremely contagious, it spread by body contact with the diseased one," Aria added.

"I thought...you guys were unable to rust...?" Miko asked in disbelief.

"As in fact, this disease wasn't to be heard again even before the war started," Arcee stated. "Why now...?"

"Guys, minor things aside! Bumblebee is in emergency!" Jack warned.

As time passed by, the rust on Bumblebee's body spread to the other area. The spread was clear and fast. It was like Ratchet said, the body would start to corrode and waste away to nothing.

* * *

The same thing also infected Starscream.

"Impossible, Cosmic Rust was already gone from Cybertron for many eons!" Starscream screamed as he lied on the metal berth.

"From Cybertron, Starscream. We're not home, remember? What kind of substance did you come into contact with?" Knock Out asked.

"SAVE IT! I am rusting! Help me out of this...miserable condition!" Starscream was clearly nervous. He witnessed as the rusts spread widely to his entire body. He could feel his body parts were eaten by the rusts. Of course, being a coward, Starscream feared death more than anything. Hell no he would die by rusting slowly into dust. "You have to tell me that you have the cure, doctor! Cure me! Cure me!"

"Don't worry, Starscream. I do have the cure, now give me some moments," Knock Out rushed and browsed through his medicinal cabinet. Trauma buffer, anti carbon, fabric...ZPTO..." the red medic flipped every vial and tube he came across, but nothing for Cosmic Rust cure. "Now, where is it?" Knock Out then moved to his other shelves, and continued searching. "Super shiny wax gel, buffer, metal polish..."

"HURRY UP! If I happen to rust into dust, it's your fault and I am going to haunt you for the rest of your life!" Starscream cried out in desperation.

"Yes, yes, Herr Kommandant, just...give me few more seconds..." Knock Out answered nervously. He began flipping every tool and peeked at every corner of his med bay. He did remember that he had the cure, but where did he put it?

"Don't tell me you actually have no cure...?" Starscream fearfully asked.

"I have it, Starscream. If I ever come across this kind of disgusting disease then...oh! I remember now!" Knock Out clicked his fingers as he finally remembered it. The sport car flipped open his chest compartment, dug up inside and brought out a vial filled with blue liquid. "Here's the cure for your illness."

Starscream gave 'what-on-pit-you-weirdo' look to Knock Out. That medic put the medicine inside his chest for the entire time and he forgot about it? Sounded like a mistake only old timer could make, but how about the perfectionist sleek red Decepticon?

"Sorry, my bad," Knock Out immediately worked on curing Starscream. "I just remembered that I used to carry this around, in case I even got infected. You know, it will be very gross."

"Yes, yes, I know now," Starscream remarked.

"This substance is called 'Corrostop', invented specially for curing Cosmic Rust and preventing future corrosion. It was invented by an Autobot scientist Perceptor. I just got lucky to come across a sample," Knock Out explained. "By the way, mind if you explain to me on how did you get infected in first place?"

"That...I'm really intrigued with..." Starscream immediately deducted that the meteor rock probably carried the disease. He remembered of touching the meteor, and after that he got infected. Then, Starscream began to get an idea. His plan of overthrowing Megatron was much still in play. And after his nasty encounter with Cosmic Rust meteor, he was planning on having Megatron got a taste of it as well.

After being healed by Knock Out, Starscream went to the command center to meet with Megatron.

"Lord Megatron, I have a good news for you. Just a moment ago, when I was flying on the sky..." Starscream began.

"You were leaving the ship without my permission?!" Megatron snapped.

"Uh, forgive me, master. I was just...spending my free time, see..." Starscream replied sheepishly.

"If you have that much of free time, use it for something more useful than just a simple sight seeing, do YOU understand?!" Megatron scolded.

"Uh yes, very clear, master. But thanks to my useless sightseeing, I came across something useful, my Lord," Starscream added.

* * *

"Do you have the cure?!" Raf demanded.

"By using whatever means I possess now, creating the cure is possible. But it would take time...and now Bumblebee does not have it..." Ratchet thought hard, then he got an idea. "That's right...the only cure that is accessible for now, White Energon! Aria!"

"On it!" Aria immediately unfolded her syringe. She wasted no time to inject her White Energon to Bumblebee.

In matter of seconds, the rusting parts glowed bright white and healed. Bumblebee was freed from the Cosmic Rust, but he was still unresponsive. After healing Bumblebee, Aria felt the toll on her body. Wiping out the Cosmic Rust bacteria as well as healing the damaging part took a massive amount of White Energon. Aria disconnected her syringe from Bumblebee, and let out tired sigh.

"That Energon thing can heal disease as well?" June asked, intrigued.

"Only White Energon carries the healing attribute to any kind of disease and injury," Ratchet explained. "And Aria is the only White Energon Cybertronian existing this day."

"Bee, wake up!" Raf tried to wake Bumblebee.

"Not yet, the disease may be wiped out, but we could not tell the internal damage. Chances are Optimus is infected too, and in need of assistance. Arcee and Bulkhead, carry Bumblebee to the med-bay. Aria, you and I go to retrieve Optimus!" Ratchet instructed.

* * *

Ratchet and Aria rushed to the still opened GroundBridge portal. They arrived at the location, and spotted a big crate there. Arcee and Aria walked to see the center of the crate, and shocked to find Optimus laying on his belly there. What was worse, he was covered in Cosmic Rust.

"OPTIMUS!" Ratchet cried out in horror as she slid down to the crater. She immediately approached Optimus.

"No, don't touch! You know that Cosmic Rust is contagious by single touch!" Aria warned. She took the role to examine Optimus. Aria could touch the infected Prime without being infected herself, because her White nature provided her with immune system against all diseases.

"Urgh..." Optimus was conscious, barely. He lifted his body a bit, to reveal his faceplate that also turned brown and rusted. "Stay away...from me..."

* * *

*Rewind...rewind...rewind*

* * *

"Well, I said that, but...too bad your little girl Aria is not with you," Starscream remarked to Optimus. "I might be interested in her, as you can see. She is one kind of Cybertronian that was thought only to exist in the myth."

Optimus widened his eyes in horror, Starscream knew about Aria's nature already.

"And one more thing, she looks like your daughter, Arianna," Starscream added. "Speaking of, where is your daughter? Have you found her? Or in this case, is she even still alive?"

"That is the answer that you would not get, Starscream," Optimus stepped forward.

Optimus knew it, Starscream was Megatron's second-in-command. And therefore, he was involved in Megatron's plan of abducting Arianna. After he found out that Arianna was already gone, Optimus knew that Megatron was the one to blame, even though he wasn't directly responsible for Arianna's death. But, it wouldn't happen if Megatron just left her alone in first place.

"Let me guess, she was already dead?" Starscream smirked. "Killed by humans, to be used as lab rat, together with that Aria girl...?"

That snapped Optimus' last string, he deployed his battle mask, and charged directly to Starscream. The jet should know better than angering Optimus, as Optimus zoomed with lightning speed and punched Starscream as hard as he could. Starscream was sent flying and crashing into the meteor.

"I will crush you both!" angered, Starscream fired his missile to the Autobots.

Optimus and Bumblebee jumped to opposite direction to dodge it. Bumblebee charged forward, trying to kick Starscream. Starscream just grabbed his leg and tossed him to the meteor. He didn't see Optimus coming with a roar though. Optimus punched Starscream and sent him crashing the meteor again. Sensing that his plan to battle the Autobots was a total foolish plan, Starscream made his retreat.

"Who knows, that Prime could be as crazy as Megatron if pissed off...?" Starscream remarked to himself.

Suddenly, he felt ridiculously dizzy and was unable to balance. Starscream fell to his knees as he was wondering what happened to him. As his eyes trailed off to his lower body, he spotted some parts of his legs and waist were turning brown and rusting.

"WHAT?!" Starscream gasped in horror. As he observed his hands, they too, started to rust out of nowhere. "What's happening to me?!" he cried out when the rusting went even worse. He immediately knew that he needed medical attention, so Starscream transformed to jet, attempting to fly. However, he had no strength to fly, and just lied flat on the ground. "This is Commander Starscream, requesting emergency GroundBridge immediately!"

Optimus watched as Starscream made his escape using GroundBridge.

_You let him go away?_ Bumblebee asked as he joined Optimus' side.

"He is not worth it," Optimus shook his head. Optimus was never to be the kind of taking revenge. Besides, Starscream wasn't the one if Optimus really wanted to take revenge over Arianna's death.

Both of Autobots took the chance to inspect the meteor further. Optimus took out his scanner to examine the rocks. The scanner's needle meter somewhat went crazy.

"The readings are wrong..." Optimus made a remark. Then, he heard a loud thump from his behind.

As Optimus turned around, he widened eyes to see Bumblebee was on his knees.

"Bumblebee!" Optimus rushed to aid him. Much to his horror, Optimus saw Bumblebee's door wings, chest part, and limbs were rusting and turning brown. As a smart Prime, he did know what kind of symptoms it was. Optimus immediately reached out his comm link to contact the base, but he witnessed that his hand was also rusting. To make things even worse, Optimus started to feel sick, really sick. And, he realized that the meteor may hold responsible for that.

Cosmic Rust, even the greatest Prime couldn't stand such deadly disease. If not treated immediately, both of them could turn into dust in matter of minutes. Bumblebee let out a weak bleep when the Cosmic Rust spread to the worse. He could feel that his entire system was slowly rusting away.

Optimus was having hard time on focusing his mind, his processor was very fuzzy and unstable. Not to mention, his slowly-rusting body refused to move. Having hard time on concentrating, Optimus finally realized that they needed to retreat.

"Optimus to base...open...the...GroundBridge..." Optimus called out weakly.

The portal opened, Bumblebee forced himself to stand and helped Optimus.

"Bumblebee, you go ahead..." Optimus objected.

Although reluctant, Bumblebee staggered to the portal. Meanwhile Optimus struggled for his own, and collapsed for good.

* * *

That led to the current situation. Aria transferred her White Energon which healed Optimus in matter of seconds.

"Ratchet, I've cleaned up the rust," Aria reported.

"But Optimus still suffers from quite a number of internal damage," Ratchet said as he scanned over Optimus.

Optimus tried to support himself using his hands, but he was still all too weak. The Cosmic Rust already severed some of his internal circuits, and it would be some time before he could gain his full range motion again. Aria was on his side, providing support.

"Thank you, Aria," Optimus said as he gave a smile to the girl.

"Never mention it," Aria replied with a smile as well.

"This is the source of the endemic," Ratchet confirmed after he scanned the problem meteor. "Every molecules of it are made of Cosmic Rust microorganism. This is a bio-hazard weapon that could wipe out entire city of Cybertron."

Suddenly they heard a GroundBridge portal opened. Much to their shock, Megatron and Starscream stepped out of it. Starscream managed to persuade Megatron to go to field with him, saying there would be something interesting. And true, what else more interesting for Megatron besides Optimus Prime? And Megatron was bit glad to follow Starscream's advise, since he finally met with the mysterious sea-green femme.

"Megatron...!" Ratchet hissed as he took ready position. He might be a medic, but he also got the title as warrior, hence 'Warrior Medic'.

"You see there, master? Optimus Prime, and...and...the girl!" Starscream pointed out.

It was Aria's first time to set eyes on Megatron. She saw him inside Arianna's memory previously. Aria growled slightly to remember that Megatron was the one who abducted Arianna away. But despite everything, that Decepticon leader was the scary one to meet eye-by-eye. He was 100 times far scarier than Airachnid!

"_Base to Ratchet,"_ Arcee commed Ratchet. "_We read two Decepticons signals at your location. Do you require backup?"_

"Negative, Arcee. The rest of you stay behind," Optimus cut in. He forced his legs to stand up. "Megatron..."

"Optimus..." Megatron smirked. "You seem, little bit unwell."

"Megatron, as you can see, Optimus is unhealthy and we have no reason to start a fight here," Ratchet reasoned. "If we do have disagreement, which, we already have, we have to put it for another time."

"Yeah, we have no reason. Then how about making one to start with? For example, the girl behind there," Megatron referred to Aria. "I do believe that we have met somewhere before. As your face is just way, way too recognizable for me."

Aria's spark skipped a beat hearing that. Megatron couldn't possibly know, there was no way he could know. If he knew, then it was a real doom.

"According to my intel, which happens to be surprisingly accurate for once..." Megatron peered to Starscream behind him. "Aria, as I believed it's the name, was the product of illegal experiment courtesy by human scientists. A half Autobot and half human, a cyborg if you will. And for the mechanic part of that girl, Arianna's body was used, right?"

"How did you know?" Ratchet asked.

"Your human allies did have nice stuffs on their database system. Which they poorly secured," Starscream replied.

Optimus gave Megatron a death glare, and he clenched his fist tightly. Megatron finally knew about Aria's secret.

"What's with that look, Optimus?" Megatron taunted. "Oh yeah, that's right. It was probably an old news already. About Arianna's death, that is."

"It was all your fault!" Optimus roared, the thing he rarely did.

"Mine? How come? I did not kill your daughter," Megatron pointed out. "The humans, who you tried to protect at all cost, were responsible for it."

"No, _you _were," Optimus growled.

"No Optimus, you are not in condition for fight!" Ratchet warned.

But the medic's warning went to deaf audio. Optimus was always the one who believed strongly in 'revenge did not solve anything'. That protocol remained pretty much in play, but Optimus felt like he had to teach Megatron a lesson. A lesson on how it hurt to lose the one you loved so much. After the banter, Optimus charged forward, anger and hatred fueled his move as he punched Megatron right in the face. Megatron of course, retaliated back.

"As I suspected, every time we come into each other's face, that is the reason to start the fight, Prime," Megatron remarked. "It is, and always will be."

Both of the leaders began fighting. As expected from big ops' brawl, their fight was a deadly one. Both of them packed heavy punches under their armor, and they were the strongest from each group. But, Optimus' weakness started to show again, causing Megatron to easily overpower him. He first pinned Optimus under his feet, then aimed his fusion cannon.

"Optimus, look out!" Aria shrieked.

Aria couldn't watch any longer, she deployed her blaster and fired at Megatron. Two white blasts managed to knock Megatron away from Optimus. Strangely, Megatron was showing strange symptoms. He widened his eyes, gritted his teeth, and clutched his chest, as if he was in great pain.

"Master...? What've you done to Lord Megatron, you crazy half fleshing?!" Starscream demanded. Of course, he would try to act as nice as possible in front of Megatron.

"Do not bother, Starscream..." Megatron smirked. "This confirmed our theory, that girl is the real White Cybertronian, with the White Energon flowed in her vein and weaponry."

"I am, so what?" Aria decided to walk forward, and stood protectively in front of Optimus.

"Aria...no! Stay back...!" Optimus struggled to lift himself.

"So what? So how is it like to be merged with the dead sparkling? I read quite a story about yourself. You were originally created to be used as working drone for human criminal organization," Megatron said.

"Then, what does it have with you?" Aria asked back.

"Then I think you owe me for the part I played in your creation," Megatron replied.

"By abducting Arianna, bringing her to Earth, and eventually causing her to be found by the human scientists?!" Aria yelled in anger. "Yes, you played in big time. But, I'm not grateful the slightest for that!"

Aria was irritated by how Megatron could talk about Arianna's death very easily. It was a tragedy, both for Aria and Optimus. And Megatron was to blame, not the humans.

"I expect no less from you, Aria. Then again, the fact that you are the legendary White Cybertronian..." Megatron trailed off. "Really makes me unable to turn my eyes away of you."

"Stay away from her!" Optimus knew what Megatron had in mind. He launched forward, and knocked Megatron away from Aria.

Aria was about to offer helping hand, until Ratchet held her back.

"Stay back, Aria. This is between Optimus and Megatron, up close and personal," Ratchet remarked.

"Then...how about if I go for that one?" Aria set her eyes on another target standing around, namely Starscream.

Starscream watched the fight intently, but he had no intend to interfere. Well, he knew better than jumping inbetween Megatron's business. After all, he told Megatron to go there because of one purpose. Then, much to his shock, Aria popped on his face.

"Hey there, watching your boss fighting gave you itches, didn't it? Do you want to do little work out?" Aria challenged.

"You think I would waste my precious time for..." Starscream trailed off. He was staring at something, then smirked evilly.

Aria turned around to see what Starscream was seeing. Optimus tossed Megatron into crashing with the meteor. Starscream knew that his little action already met its goal. Immediately, the Seeker transformed to jet, and flew off.

"Hey, what the...?" Aria was rather startled when Starscream just took off.

"Yeah I know it, there's no way you can forget of that day," Megatron spat out some Energon from his mouth. "You want to blame your daughter's death to me? Guess again, I wasn't the one who killed her off."

"But it was you who took her away from me," Optimus' voice was grudging.

"Oh yeah, if only you didn't leave Arianna in very obvious place like that..." the Decepticon warlord snickered evilly.

Those words struck Prime's spark like thunderbolt. The fact alone pained his spark, it was true that he always left Arianna all alone. And for that reason only, it was too late for him to reach her, when she was taken by Megatron. Because she was so far away from his reach.

All of the sudden, Megatron screamed out in pain. Megatron immediately pinpointed the source of the problem, his hands were starting to rust, so were his back and part of his head.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?!" Megatron roared when he observed his hands turned brown.

"The meteor you crashed into, is made of substances formed by Cosmic Rust micro organism," Ratchet explained. "You will get infected if you touch it, which, already happened to you."

"COSMIC RUST?!" Megatron also knew just how deadly that disease was. He tried to stand up, but the infection made his processor fuzzy, and he stumbled on his knees again. "Starscream...he did not mention anything about Cosmic Rust...!"

"Oh wow, he got it too?" Aria observed, but somehow, she was sounded amused.

Megatron wasn't the only one. Optimus was being weakened by his previous damages, and collapsed. Aria and Ratchet immediately tended to their leader, not Megatron. Suddenly, Megatron got an idea. He remembered that Aria was a White Cybertronian, which meant that girl possessed the cure for his disease. But, Aria wasn't going to treat him easily, Megatron knew it. So, Megatron would make her to. Taking advantage of Aria and Ratchet's distraction, Megatron launched forward and punched Ratchet as hard as he could.

"RATCHET!" Aria shrieked.

Megatron gripped Ratchet's neck with his left hand, and pointed his fusion cannon to the medic's head.

"Give me your White Energon and I will spare your doctor!" Megatron threatened.

Megatron meant it, he wasn't going to die by the stupid disease. Even if he didn't get the treatment from Aria, he would get it from Knock Out, but not without snuffing another one of the Autobots.

"Aria, don't do it!" Ratchet pleaded.

Ratchet tried his best to get free from Megatron, but that gladiator was just too tough. But, Megatron's diseased condition could provide the Autobots with the winning position. The Cosmic Rust was probably the best way to end Megatron's life as well as the war. And Ratchet, wouldn't just waste this precious chance to end Megatron's life once and for all.

"SILENCE!" Megatron roared. "And I do not intend to negotiate..." Megatron began to charge his cannon, prepared to blast Ratchet's head at any time.

"Don't!" Aria stopped him. "Alright, alright! I will do it! But let Ratchet go first!"

"No, you cure me first, then I will let him go," Megatron said. "You have my words. And as I said, I do not intend to negotiate. Now, walk closer to me, only you," Megatron inched his cannon closer to Ratchet's head.

Aria knew that curing Megatron would be out of question, if only Ratchet wasn't taken hostage. Plus, the medic already came into contact with the infected Megatron, meaning Ratchet too, would need treatment soon. For the sea-green femme, friends were more important than anything. So, without hesitation, Aria walked closer to Megatron.

Optimus watched the scene with crazy-beating spark. The situation had gotten into the worse. The Prime didn't want Aria to get closer to Megatron, as it would be too risky for her safety. Opitmus wasn't going to let anything harm Aria. He came to care for Aria so much, after he lost Arianna. If Megatron would try as much as touching Aria, Optimus would just slice his head off.

Aria finally approached Megatron and deployed her syringe. Although reluctant, she gave Megatron some of her White Energon. Megatron suddenly screamed out in pain when the White Energon entered his system. Somehow, his body just hated the white version of Energon.

"Oh whoa, what's the problem? The medicine's too bitter?" Aria asked as she disconnected her syringe.

"Who told you to stop?! Continue! This level is nothing!" Megatron snapped. As the scariest and so-called 'The Ruler of Universe', Megatron wouldn't let any kind of obstruction stopped him. He was used to take a lot of pains in fact.

In no time, Megatron was cured, although painstakingly and excruciatingly by the White Energon. But at least, he was back to normal self. He did keep his words, by releasing Ratchet and pushed him away.

"Satisfied now?" Aria asked as she ran to aid Ratchet.

"Yes, yes," Megatron nodded. He turned around, seemed like preparing to leave.

"Ratchet, are you...?" Optimus came and helped his old friend standing up.

"I am fine, I have my own resistance against disease," Ratchet reassured.

Turned out, Megatron didn't plan to leave at all. When all three Autobots were distracted once again, he turned around and charged. His target was clear. Megatron deployed his sword, and aimed it straight to Aria.

Aria froze as the Lord of Doomsday dashed toward her with sword ready. For some reason, she couldn't move at all. She only froze, and as Megatron was about to stab her, she shut her eyes and braced herself.

"LOOK OUT!" Ratchet immediately covered Aria with his body.

_CRASHHH_

But the blow never came. As Aria and Ratchet slowly opened their eyes, they received the shock that they would never forget.

Optimus shielded them from the sword with his body. Megatron's sword pierced his chest, so close to his spark chamber.

"NO!" as Aria finally found her voice, she cried out in horror. She couldn't believe it, the mighty Prime sacrificed himself to protect her. The sword might fail to reach her, but the sea-green femme felt like her spark was shattered as well.

"OPTIMUS!" Ratchet cried out.

"You ARE so WEAK!" Megatron pulled out his sword and let the body of the Prime fell to the ground. Feeling that he already accomplished what he always dreamt of, killing the Prime that was, he transformed to jet and flew off. "The weak shall perish."

"Optimus...!" Ratchet immediately examined the Prime. "No, the damage is...beyond repair..."

Aria didn't care about Megatron fleeing, as she was in shock and horror. Optimus was still alive, but barely. His chest plate was pierced open, revealing the badly damaged spark chamber, and the spark inside was in verge of collapsing. "NO, please don't...!" she cried out.

"Aria..." he whispered weakly as his optics were stuttering, and he could feel that his spark was about to give up as well. His vision was going blurry.

"NO! You can't die!" Aria hurriedly deployed her syringe and immediately injected White Energon to the chest area. She was on time, as the spark chamber was beginning to heal, the Prime was pulled away from death's gate.

Prime finally regained most of his consciousness after the White Energon entered his system. Optimus tilted his head to see Aria injected her energon frantically. However, the wound was too fatal, in order to heal such injury completely, large amount of White Energon was needed. The White Autobot didn't care, as she continued to transfer her Energon.

"Aria, no!" Optimus was still too weak to move, but he managed to touch Aria's hand. He could feel on how much White Energon entered his body, it was way too much, and that was his biggest horror. That girl was going to drain herself. "Don't do this! Your life can be in danger!"

"That's enough!" Ratchet grabbed Aria's arm. "You already saved him from critical condition! Stop it now! Do you want to kill yourself?!

"I DON'T CARE!" Aria screamed with cracked voice, and she snapped Ratchet's hand aside. She already spent half of her White Energon available, she clearly was in verge of severe Energon deprivation. "You can't die! You're the last Prime, YOU CAN'T DIE!" she could feel her system shutting down one by one due to energon deprivation, her body was on fire. But, she didn't care.

Much to Optimus' shock, Aria's body began to spark fire, it was a sign of system failure.

"No, let go of your hand NOW!" Ratchet finally grabbed Aria's hand and pulled the syringe out of Prime's body.

At last, Prime's chest plate was finally healed, not completely but most of it, and the Prime finally got the strength to get up, albeit still weak. But by that time, Aria finally lost her consciousness on Ratchet's arm.

"NO!" Optimus was panicking as he caught the girl's limp body.

"This can't be...!" Ratchet checked over her Energon level, it was only 1%. Many Cybertronians were already in afterlife when their Energon level was just 5%. "We have to get her back to base and revive her immediately!"

"Base!" Optimus forced his still damaged body to stand up by carrying Aria with his both hand. "OPEN THE BRIDGE NOW!" there was no time to lose, the girl was about to die.

* * *

Back on Nemesis...

"Really, it was a really ingenious plan of myself..." Starscream paced back and forth in the command center. "Surprisingly accurate for once, huh Megatron? Well, you were quite right in some ways, but..."

His words were cut short when he heard the door opened. And he nearly popped out his eyes when he saw Megatron standing there, completely unharmed and un-diseased and un-rusting, as what Starscream initially planned on.

"Starscream..." Megatron hissed. "I found there were so many missing points from your previous report..."

"L...L...Lord Me...Me...Megatron...?!" Starscream stuttered in fear.


	8. Always Too Late

_I remember tears streaming down your face_

_When I said, I'll never let you go_

_When all the shadows almost killed your light_

_I remember you said, don't leave me here alone_

_But all that's dead and gone and past tonight_

* * *

The realization always came too late, it always happened. Aria hadn't yet accepted Optimus' offer of becoming his daughter because she wasn't sure yet on how she felt about Optimus. Aria cared and was rather protective of Optimus, but she first thought that it wouldn't be more than that. Then in the end, Aria realized just how wrong she was.

Why did she always regret of something she hadn't done, than the things she had done?

Ratchet was startled as he heard Aria's voice, and it was the voice the medic really wanted to hear. "Thank the Allspark...!" he immediately rushed to the medical berth.

The incident surely torn Ratchet's spark apart. He witnessed Aria almost killed herself by draining herself out of White Energon. As soon as they returned to the base, Ratchet rushed Aria to the med bay, and connected the half Autobot immediately to the drip. The girl just barely escaped the death caused by Energon deprivation, and Ratchet worked so hard on rebooting the failing system. Finally, Aria was stabilized enough, but she hadn't regained consciousness for quite a time.

"Aria, can you hear me?" Ratchet was anxious when he finally heard the girl's murmur.

"...Ratch...?" Aria readjusted her blurry vision, she felt like she was being ran over by Nemesis itself.

"Thank the Primus," Ratchet finally could vented in relief. "Now stay still, it's okay. You're safe now," he said softly like a nurse. "Do you remember what happened before?" he wanted to check that there was no memory bank damage.

Aria thought back, and the memory of Optimus being stabbed in the chest made her gasping. "Optimus...! Is he...?!" her spark immediately filled with worried as she struggled to sit up.

"Don't move, don't move. Optimus is fine, he is in main sick bay for now. Badly injured especially in chest plate, but he's all good," Ratchet said. "You saved his life."

"Thank goodness..." Aria felt so relieved as she plopped her head back.

"_Thank goodness_? Listen, you were almost DIE!" and then the medic was enraged. "I tell you what, you almost gave me spark arrest! It was very foolish action that you did!"

"Well, in fact, I'm alive now. And, it wasn't like I had other choice back then..." Aria did remember that she almost emptied her much needed energon.

Ratchet sighed, he was so worried about that girl's safety, but then he worried about Optimus more. If the last Prime was gone, then their hope to win the war would go to dust. That was why, part of the medic was glad that Aria saved Optimus' life, even if she almost sacrificed her own. But, there was no way Ratchet could afford to lose yet another member of the team, especially Aria. In very short time, Ratchet and the girl already formed close connection. And, the medic already had enough people dying under his hands, especially the one so young.

"Just, just...don't do that kind of thing anymore, because...I don't think I can pull you out from death next time..." he spoke. "Now, you'd better take some rest, I will go to see Optimus and the others now."

* * *

Ratchet kept Aria in special intensive care bay, separated from the sick bay in the command center. When he exited the intensive care bay, Ratchet was greeted by the anxious people waiting outside.

"Ratchet, how is she?!" Arcee was the first.

"She's going to be alright, isn't she?!" Miko asked frantically, worry and fear were presented clearly on her face.

"She's fine, she already regained consciousness now," Ratchet told them. Everyone breathed a long sigh of relief. "But, visitor is prohibited until further notification. Okay, so now I can move to my next patient."

"The boss is in very bad shape," Bulkhead pointed to the Prime who was sitting in the corner. His body was messed, especially the chest plate. Aria's White Energon healed it but it was still damaged. And, his mood was no better than anybody else. Even the calm and generous Prime could get so worried and panicked when he knew that one of his team member almost died for him.

"Optimus, now..." Ratchet approached him.

"Ratchet, not now," the red truck refused. "You have to put Aria on your top priority."

"Old friend, I told you she is stabilized now. She's going to be fine," Ratchet knew how stubborn his old friend was. "Do you want Aria to see you in this shape when she gets out? So no argument, come here."

The Autobot leader was still reluctant, but he caught Ratchet's point. So he followed the medic to be patched up, before casting a glance to the emergency bay where Aria was kept.

* * *

Aria couldn't go to rest, she just couldn't. She was saved from death, Optimus was too. But, she was still very, very scared, when she remembered the scene Optimus being stabbed.

It was when that her world shattered in a blink of eye. At that time, she thought that Optimus was dead for real.

She didn't want him to die, absolutely. It was like when she witnessed Arianna's death in front of her eyes. She almost witnessed the very same thing for the second time. The death of her beloved one, that was.

The sea-green femme finally realized just how much she needed Optimus. She needed him, badly. When she was still unsure about answering Optimus' offer, she couldn't imagine if he was gone for good. She didn't want to lose him, not in the way she lost Arianna before. Arianna's death was so sudden, so unpredictable.

_There are so much thing I haven't managed to say to you, one thing you should know, I love you with all my heart._

Aria absolutely had no idea that Arianna was going to leave her at that fateful day, she couldn't make it to say 'I love you' when the blue sparkling was still alive. She said it when Arianna was already with the Allspark, and for the young girl, it was way, way too late. The realization just came after Arianna was gone.

Aria was well aware that she wasn't a God, so she couldn't predict what was going to happen in future. She didn't have any way of knowing when her beloved ones were going to be taken away. She knew she had no ability to control that thing, but there was one thing that at least she could do.

_It's not what you want, but what you need in order to move on._

She didn't want to regret for the thing she hadn't manage to do.

* * *

The night became so late. The children had gone home, escorted by their guardians. Then the Autobots too, took rest on their respective quarters. Except Optimus and Aria, they would stay under medical care for a while.

"It's finished now, you should take some rest in here," Ratchet finished to patch Optimus up. "I still have to monitor your spark chamber to make sure there's no problem."

The Prime was lying on berth, connected to the electropulse monitor. He nodded to his old friend. "You're really expert in your thing, old friend."

"It's already my job, now, take a rest. You need it," with that, the medic exited the sick bay.

Optimus vented, he couldn't close his optics yet as he was still worried to death about Aria. Was she really going to be alright? But as he thought about that, he heard small footsteps.

It was Aria, she forced her exhausted body to walk to Optimus' place. "Optimus..." she whispered weakly as she supported herself on the wall.

"Aria...?" Optimus couldn't believe his eyes, the girl was there. "You should not leave your bay at this state. Ratchet told you that, did he not?"

"I know, but I don't want to wait any longer," she dragged her body to the side of the big metal berth. She was so relieved to see the Prime was okay. "Are you okay...?"

"I am not the one you should worry about. You almost sacrificed your life to safe mine. While I cannot call that the best thing to do, I owe you my life, Aria," Optimus replied.

"It's nothing," the sea-green femme smiled. "I will do it again and again if necessary."

* * *

Arcee couldn't rest as she was worried over her student. She couldn't forget the image her body lying lifelessly on Prime's hand. At that time, Arcee thought that girl was already dead. She was beyond worried. So, she wanted to peek over the emergency bay, to see if Aria was truly alright. She got out from her quarter, and met up with Ratchet in the hallway. "Ratchet, what's wrong?"

The medic looked so frustrated and so worried at same time. "THAT GIRL! She left her bay without my permission!" he pointed to the empty ICU.

"What?" now the blue femme was alarmed. "What happened? Where did she go...?"

"Like I know...! Wait, she must be in..." Ratchet rushed to the command center. He knew it, she was there. "Aria, I told you...!"

"Wait," Arcee who was following him from behind, grabbed him back. "Seems like they are in middle of something..." both of the Autobots peeked over the entrance.

* * *

"I owe you an apology," Aria began.

"You owe me nothing," Optimus replied.

"No, you've been so kind to me at all time, yet I can do so little to repay you back," Aria said.

"I do not wish for any repayment. Because I do not think that what I have done would be suffice, for you or anybody of that matter," Optimus replied sadly, he put his body into sitting position. "I could not afford losing you. Because, I do not want to repeat the same mistake, which I did to Arianna."

Aria stayed silent.

"It is not because I was her father, but she was my daughter. My only treasure in this universe. Yet, I lost her," Optimus glanced to Aria's eyes. "And I do not want to lose my second treasure."

"For what reason...?" Aria asked.

"You are in my spark, you are always be, even if you have no place for me in your heart. That is the only reason I could say," Optimus merely said.

"It's not like what you think, Optimus," Aria sighed. "I mean, I don't hate you. I was just...not sure. I already knew you even before we met, thanks to the memory Arianna gave me as parting gift. Her memory and feeling became mine, that was how I knew how much she loved you. I thought, I just inherited her feeling. I was rather scared, if my feelings toward you wasn't the genuine one. If it wasn't from my own feeling, you know."

Optimus didn't reply.

"But, because of that too, I almost repeated the same mistake. Back then, when you were stabbed..." the girl took a deep breath. "I was scared, really scared. I thought you were dead, in front of my eyes nonetheless, just like Arianna." She looked directly to Optimus' eyes. "I just realized on how much I need someone who sees me not just as armed soldier or White Cybertronian, someone who will greet me when I come home, and most important of all..." she walked forward and held Optimus' hand. "Someone that I want to protect and absolutely cannot let go whatever the cost."

Optimus didn't see that coming, he felt the warm touch on his hand.

"I loved Arianna, and I needed her. But, I didn't realize that until Arianna was gone. She was everything to me, until to the point that I couldn't live without her. Yet, I didn't realize how much I loved her, until she died..." Aria tighten her grip on Optimus' digits. "It almost happened again. I don't want to wait until you're gone for real...I need you. And I..._I love you_," finally, she said it. "I love you with all my heart."

By that moment, Optimus' empty and lonely space was filled again.

"I love you too, Aria. Believe me, I really love you. And I wish nothing but your happiness," Optimus replied, it was the thing he always wanted to say to the girl.

"Me too. And, about your offer before..." now, Aria was blushing a bit. "I mean, I want it. Only if you don't mind to accept me..."

"Only if you give me a chance," Optimus cut in.

Aria gaped, "Sure thing..._father_," with that, a tear rolled from her eye. She grasped his hand even tighter now. "I already lost my sister, Arianna, I don't want to lose you. I will never let you go from my hands anymore."

Optimus replied by gently squeezing her hand. "Even if one day I have to lose everything in me, you're the only one whom I will never give up for, my dear. I swore upon my title as a Prime, that I will protect you from any harm, even if it costs my life."

There couldn't be any happier moment for Aria than that. "I too, won't ever let anything happen to you, father...I love you, love you so much...! And, I want to be with you forever..." she finally got what she always wanted and dreamt of, a family who would accept her with gentle embrace and never-ending love.

Just after that, her body finally gave in from exhaustion. The half-Autobot lost her balance and collapsed on her knees.

"ARIA!" Optimus jerked up from his berth and caught his second daughter's body.

"Okay okay, that's it, time's up!" Ratchet decided to enter. He crouched down and picked up the girl. "What I told you about not to push your body? And what's more, you leave the emergency bay without my permission, that's capital offense."

"Ratch...? Miss Arcee...?" Aria was startled when she saw the two unexpected guests. "What...are you guys doing here?" she was replied by big grin from her mentor.

"Now, return to your berth immediately, and I'll supervise you all night. If I catch you sneaking out again, I will have no choice but putting you in stasis for whole day," Ratchet announced as he exited the sick bay with Aria in tow. "Optimus, sorry for the interruption. Have a nice rest." Much to anybody's surprise, Ratchet wasn't blowing his gasket as he usually did when his patient disobeyed him.

Aria casted a last glance to Optimus before exiting the room. "By the way, you two didn't happen to..." she asked to the two peeping toms.

"I admit it, I hadn't the slightest idea about this," Ratchet said, surprisingly with a snicker.

"Congratulation, Aria. You deserved it after all," Arcee winked to her.

"You did hear us..." Aria blushed in embarrassment, but she was more than happy.

* * *

Aria's recovery was incredibly fast. By the next morning, she was discharged from clinic with clean bill of health. However, Ratchet still saw her as unfit for duty, and grounded her until further notification.

"Follow the light, good. Can you try to lift your hands? Okay good, good," the medic was doing the routine medical check. "I can't say anything except all your systems are recovered and doing perfectly.

"Thanks Ratch, so can I go back to duty soon?" Aria asked.

"Nope, not yet," Ratchet wiggled his finger. "You know that complications can arise at any time if you're not careful with your body that only recovered in recent."

"Fine, fine," Aria knew it was useless to argue with her mentor in medic education.

"Just take this time as your day off," the CMO advised. "Even the strongest warrior needs rest sometimes."

"Well, I think that should be applied to our leader as well," Aria said as she walked to the command center.

"I admit defeat for that case. But I think you may be able to encourage him. You know how stubborn he is."

"Let's see what I can do, then," the girl giggled. As she approached the command center, she saw her three friends were already in couch area. She ran to the stairs. "Hey guys!"

"Oh, hey Aria!" Jack was reading some kind of novel while leaning on the railing. "How's it going?"

"Everything is good, Jack," the girl saw that Miko and Rafael were in middle of video games. "Oh my, start the match already?"

"Oh hi Aria, you're out from Ratchet hospital already?" Miko asked.

"Yeah. By the way, can I have the second round?" Aria eyed the racing game intently.

"Sure, you will face me after this," Miko challenged.

"Not fair, I'm not going to lose!" Rafael wasn't going to give up.

"You're almost there, go Raf!" the ponytail cheered for the glasses boy. As she turned around, she saw Bumblebee and Bulkhead were in basketball match. The yellow bot managed to snatch the ball from the big green.

"Hey girl, how are you today?" Arcee walked closer to the platform.

"Fine, coach," Aria answered.

Just then, the metal ball came and crashed into Arcee's head. Arcee rubbed her head and groaned. "BULKHEAD! Do you want to damage my processor?!" she snapped angrily back to the Wrecker.

"Uh, sorry 'Cee..." Bulkhead sheepishly answered.

Arcee grabbed the ball and walked to the duo. "Here, I'll show you how to play like a pro!" the blue femme could be very competitive in very small matter.

"Good luck, Miss Arcee!" Aria cheered up.

"By the way Aria, is something happening? You seem happier today," Jack stated.

"What? Me? Really?"

"Yeah, you seem...brighter? Care to tell me?" the teen boy asked more.

"Well..." Aria was about to answer when she heard very familiar footsteps. Optimus was walking into the command center, much to the girl's delight. "Father!" she called out.

Dead silence inside the command center. Jack's eyes widened, Miko and Raf dropped their controllers, Bumblebee dropped the ball he held causing it to fall into his foot, and Bulkhead's jaw hanging open. They were all speechless, except for Arcee and Ratchet. Arcee had this small smile on her face, and Ratchet too, couldn't help to chuckle slightly.

"Hello there, my dear," Optimus approached the platform with a smile. "Are you recovered already?"

"100% good! How about you?" Aria asked back.

"I am in good shape already as well. Mind to join me for some driving?" the father asked.

"I want to! Well...what do you say, Ratch?" Aria asked to her doctor.

"Fine by me, as long as you return at reasonable hour, and you shouldn't overwork yourself yet. Optimus, I'm counting on you to supervise her," Ratchet replied without turning from his monitor.

"Understood. Well, Aria?" the Prime offered his palm.

"Sweet!" she jumped to the big palm. "Sorry guys, see you later!" she waved to her still speechless friends, before Optimus carried her out of the base.

"What...?" Bulkhead exchanged look to Bumblebee who was jumping up and down while rubbing his sore foot at same time. "...happened just now...?"

"Did you hear that just before?! DID YOU?!" Miko was acting like paparazzi.

"Since when they...?" Jack couldn't help but giggle at the situation.

"Since yesterday to be exact," Arcee was grinning widely, she folded her arms in satisfaction.

"Having a daddy as big as Optimus...? I'm jealous of her now..." Raf commented.

Optimus was strolling on dirt road with Aria on his cabin. When they approached a cliff with the view of Jasper town, they decided to stop and admiring the view. Aria got out from Optimus, making sure there was no human nearby as her father transformed. "Aagh, this is pretty good," she said as she stretched her joints. "Look father, that's Jasper."

The Prime sat down on the dirt, he scooped his second daughter to sit on his lap. "This kind of town really reminds me over The City of Iacon," he spoke. "I'm not sure if you ever witnessed this even in Arianna's memory, when Iacon was still showered by bright light and peaceful live. I lived there for as much as I could remember."

"I saw Iacon just shortly before the war started, so I could get pretty much idea of it. It was a beautiful and futuristic place, as expected from the majestic Cybertron anyway," Aria put her chin on her palms.

"Arianna didn't have the chance to see the real beauty of her home world. She came online right before I spoke to the High Council together with...Megatron. By the time Arianna was nearly at her first stage of youngling age, the war started. Her memory of the peaceful and bright Cybertron was dominated by the memory of war zones in every corner..." the Prime sighed sadly.

"Father, it's not your fault," Aria stroked his arm. It was their very first family time, when Optimus finally shared his very personal story to anybody else. "In her memory, what I saw there was so beautiful. I really want to know what Cybertron at golden age looks like."

"It was a sight that you couldn't forget forever," finally the red semi smiled again when he remembered Cybertron in the peaceful time.

"Really? Whew, I want to see it..." Aria smiled. "I also want to know what life in Cybertron feels like."

"One day, I will show you what it looks like, Aria," Optimus stated. "I promise, I will bring the war to the end, so you can see the real beauty of Cybertron, so we can live together in peace again." He finally got a second chance, which he couldn't afford to fail yet again.

* * *

"Master, our victory and glory are just a step ahead!" Starscream gleefully announced. "Because you already put the life of Optimus Prime to the end. Praise our one and only leader, Lord Megatron!"

But Megatron wasn't looked too pleased.

"Lord Megatron?" Starscream frowned.

"Optimus is still alive," his leader answered shortly.

"But, you said you pierced his spark with your mighty sword?"

"I can feel it, he is still alive. Optimus is not the one I can underestimate that easy. Besides, he got that White girl at his side," Megatron explained.

"That puny arrogant femme, huh?" he started to get irritated by the sea-green femme.

"She is not to be underestimated as well. It will be so interesting if I can get my hand into her throat," the Decepticon warlord clenched his fist.

"Yeah sure, we shall capture that girl, and we will drain all of her White Energon..."

"Not for that, Starscream," cut Megatron.

"What?" the Seeker was baffled and disappointed for the second time. "Why? She's a White Cybertronian, she can be used for many things!"

"While White Cybertronians are regarded high and very majestic in history, there is no really important use from White Energon, for us, at least. Because my Dark Energon in store is far more powerful than that white liquid," Megatron reasoned. But he didn't mention just how unwell the White Energon worked on his body.

"Oh, then why you want her anyway?"

"Is it not obvious? Optimus even sacrificed his life to protect that half human whose body was merged with his daughter. So, it will be so entertaining for me to see what his face looks like when I get a grasp to that girl for real," the gladiator smirked. "It will be so much fun...to tear him apart from inside out."

"Oh, I get your point now, master," Starscream nodded in approval. "But in any case, how should we face her? That girl is young, but she's a White, making her so DANGEROUS!" He shivered when he remembered being blasted by Aria.

"Everything has its solution, Starscream. White Cybertronians may be formidable in their firepower and endurance," his evil smirk got even wider. "But there is one thing that only I know it. They have a certain, and fatal, weak point." He laughed evilly.


	9. To the Rock Bottom

"_Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten."_

* * *

In Autobot Base training room, two younglings were in middle of sparring with Arcee as the supervisor. Although Aria was younger than Bumblebee, she could go toe-to-toe with the more experienced yellow mech. "HIYAH!" she delivered an uppercut which was difficult for Bumblebee to dodge. As half-human, the sea-green femme focused more on human fighting moves, she knew that could provide her with advantages against Decepticon.

"Okay good, time's up," Arcee announced.

"Phew..." both of the young bots stopped their match. "You're good Bumblebee, as expected from my senior anyway..." Aria placed her hands on her hips.

_You're the star here_, the yellow car replied with thumb up. He admitted it, the younger femme was really formidable. She was very difficult to be handled, even without her super white weapon. _You okay there?_

"Yup, I'm all good. It's very good to have a fight after so much vacation..." the girl stretched her limbs. Just that morning, Ratchet finally declared her to be back on duty after 2 days of rest, the thing she accepted gratefully.

"It's already noon, let's go back to command center. I bet the kids are already here," Arcee said.

"Yes," Aria reverted back to human form. "By the way, how did I perform, Miss Arcee?"

"Fabulous, I can't say anything else," the blue femme answered. She already passed Aria from her basic tutorial, and still provided assistance for her student if she needed it. But, the older femme didn't need to do all the job anymore, as Aria was able to improve mostly on her own. Even Arcee was amazed by how fast Aria could learn. The younger femme may inherit battle skill from Arianna, but that alone wouldn't do any good without enough experience.

* * *

"Oh, there you are," Bulkhead spotted the trio entering. "Where have you been? Doing some training again?"

_I have a spar with Aria_, Bumblebee explained.

"Really? So how is it?" the green bot was curious. "How come you didn't invite me? I also want to work out my muscle!"

"Muscle? Is that thing really inside this kind of body?" Arcee jokingly said as she tapped Bulkhead's belly.

"Don't even try to insult my muscular body. I'm a Wrecker after all!" that earned laughter from the three.

"That's funny Bulkhead. Father!" Aria immediately ran to Optimus as soon as she spotted him.

"Aria, how's your day?" the Prime crouched down.

"Good!" the ponytail giggled. "I had a spar with Bee earlier. Tell you what, he's very good!"

Optimus looked up to his scout, and nodded at him with a smile. "It is wonderful Aria. But, you have to make sure you didn't push your young body too much. You just recovered from severe Energon deprivation."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," Aria smiled to her father, before turned her attention to the couch area. "Hey guys!" she ran to where Jack and Miko were sitting.

"I'm surprised that this couch isn't your first thing at sight anymore..." Jack said with his arms folded.

"Really...? I'm sorry...?" Aria blushed. True, she usually would rush to the couch area as soon as she approached command center. But recently, she would go to Optimus first.

"Jackie, is it really a bad thing?" Miko interfered with annoyed look.

"Who said that? It's very wonderful thing, you know" Jack answered with a grin. "Don't worry about that, Aria. Family is always the first after all."

"Yeah, you're right. Say, where's Raf?" Aria looked for the missing young boy.

"He's doing some errand for his mother. He will come in late afternoon," Jack replied. "By the way, my mom said congratulation for you."

"You...you told her...?" the ponytail blushed even redder.

"Why, good news has to be told, right?" Jack giggled.

"Aria, I bring the thing that you will like!" Miko dug through her backpack. "Ta-da, the new super double chocolate brownies from the store, still fresh from the oven!" she flashed the pretty box from the bakery.

"WOW! I always want to taste this thing!" Aria bounced in excitement. "Shall we open it now?!"

"Hey, what I told you about food containing high concentrate of unhealthy sugar and carbohydrate?!" Ratchet shouted. "That kind of thing can cause damage to your teeth, as well as unhealthy weight gaining!"

"Say it to them, I'm not that fond with sweets," Jack pointed to the girls.

"Oh, we're already done with healthy mumbo-jumbo stuffs from Jack's mom, now we have to get another from a doctor, the metallic and gruff one nonetheless? Oh, give me a break!" Miko snarled to the medic.

"Ratch, this kind of thing is just once in a while," Aria reasoned.

* * *

That evening, Optimus and Aria was out of drive in the open desert. When they found somewhere with nice view and free of humans, they stopped by to watch the view together. Aria would sit on Optimus' lap and they would have a nice chat. It was already their family ritual.

"Father, there's no need for you to watch the sky at any time," Aria said when Optimus' eyes just wandered around the sky. "It's not like Megatron will throw random party."

"I always worry about Decepticons, sweetspark," Optimus said.

"My father, just take a break for once," Aria sighed.

"It is already my destiny as a Prime, from the day I received the Matrix of Leadership," the red semi replied.

"That's why, I can't help but being worried all the time, you know," the ponytail stated. "You're always the one getting hurt. Not only you, but everyone else is too."

"Aria, do you know why I keep fighting in front lines?" Optimus asked. "Not only because I am the Prime, but I have you. You are the one who gives me strength and courage to keep moving forward. There is no way I will give up before I fulfill what I have promised to my daughter." He smiled to the girl. "My dear, you are not going to be alone, because never again I let my daughter all by herself. You have my word."

"That's all I need," Aria returned the smile, then rested her head on the metal thigh. "Now father, shall we continue the battle of Kaon from yesterday?" then Optimus told his daughter about his old tale back on Cybertron. They really loved the moment where they could be very close to each other.

* * *

It was evening when Starscream entered Nemesis in his jet mode. "Phew, thanks to that spider, I have to search for another abandoned mine to...AH!" much to his surprise, he stumbled upon Megatron in the hallway. "Master, I really hope you have a good day," he immediately bowed down as low as possible.

Megatron didn't answer him from that. "Well Starscream, I really hope that you will tell me where you were off to before?"

"Ah...eh...I was just...flying, to look for some sunlight, yeah, that's all..." the Seeker hastily made up a reason.

"Looking for some sunlight, huh?" Airachnid popped up next. "Really surprising for someone who initially despised this dirt planet."

"Airachnid?! What are you doing here?!" Starscream nearly popped out his optics when he spotted the spider femme.

"Oh, I assume you did not keep up with the news?" Megatron asked. "Airachnid is one of us now."

"What?! Eh...but...! Well, your wisdom shall reign in the galaxy, Lord Megatron..." Starscream flattered, he had no idea that Airachnid was joining the warship. For the Seeker, it was very bad sign. "Pardon me, Airachnid, I thought you weren't interested in team work?"

"Lord Megatron here offered me nice job and place, how can I refuse the great leader of Decepticon army?" somehow Airachnid already copied Starscream worship mode. "Who knows, perhaps we can start a real nice partnership Starscream. Or, is there something wrong with me joining your troop?"

"Uh...no, not at all," he was smiling but inside, Starscream was terribly pissed off. "Uh then, I'll take my excuse, master. Have a nice day, Airachnid." When he walked passed the spider, he casted a death glare.

When Starscream already walked far enough, it was Airachnid's turn to smirk. "Well Lord Megatron, you do realize that he has been off base way too often, don't you?"

"I do realize it Airachnid, only him who don't realize that I know just everything that he did behind my back," Megatron said.

"Then, may I ask why you don't do something about it? This is against rule."

"Why I have to bother with it, when he certainly has no capability to do things solely on his own?" the gladiator snickered. "But well, it may be the right time for me to end his treachery as well as his life, once and for all."

* * *

"_Ron, I don't like this place, so scary..."_

_"Just stay with me, we don't have too much choice..."_

_"R..Ron, I think I heard something...AH! Something is grabbing my leg!"_

_"Wh...what is it?! AAAH, it's the monster!"_

"AAAAAAAAAA!" loud screams echoed in the couch area as the ghost lady popped up in TV screen with blood all over her face.

"Bulk, you almost blast my audio receptor..." Arcee groaned after hearing the mighty girly scream from the green bot.

"S...sorry, but...but...!" Bulkhead was shaking as he covered his optics.

"Oh Bulk, you're such big baby. What's really scary about this freaky pale woman?" Miko was the tough cookie. She was the only one together with Arcee who could deal perfectly with the horror movie in night time.

"B...but...AAAAAAA...here the ghost again!" Rafael was hugging Bumblebee's arm, while the yellow bot was also being terrified by the monster.

"Ow, she disappeared again...AH! She got him!" Aria was no better, as she curled herself in ball on the couch and hugged her pillow tightly. She covered her eyes with the pillow, only peeked over one or two times.

"Ow, that's nasty..." Jack could fare a little bit better.

"_The vengeance shall be mine...!_" and that was the end of the movie.

"_Revenge of The Unrested Spirit, _the title is freaky and all but the story is no better than _The Ring_, really I have to complain..." Miko sighed as she popped out the CD. "Next time, I will come up with the real horror story."

"Miko...why should we...?" her guardian wasn't all pleased.

"Aria, you okay?" Jack asked to the girl who still covered her face in pillow.

"Yeah...I'm still alive...barely..." horror was presented in her eyes. She really wasn't a fan of horror stuffs. "I don't want to watch these kind of things anymore..."

"Well, it's pretty late now," Arcee checked over the time, it was 1 a.m in the night. "You should go to bed now."

"Yeah, we already ran out of popcorn and drinks too..." Jack said.

"Not to mention, tomorrow we will go to Slash Monkey concert! I have to be in my peak condition!" Miko was still all spirited up.

"So, should we call it a night?" Rafael asked. Bumblebee asked him something. "I know Bee, I don't think I can sleep with the ghost lady inside my head..." the glasses boy sighed in defeat.


	10. My Weakness My Strength

"_Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."_

* * *

Early in the morning, Ratchet tasked Arcee and Bulkhead to investigate energon signal from abandoned energon mine. Bumblebee was planning to spend the day with Rafael, so Aria volunteered to go to the abandoned mine.

Aria, Miko, and Jack were waiting outside the mine when the two Autobots investigated inside the mine. As the time passed, Miko grew even more frustrated. "We're supposed to be at rock concert. But all I can see is...rocks!" she paced back and forth while grunting.

"Relax, Miko..." Jack yawned.

"Yeah, the show isn't started in two hours," Aria added.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting to see Slash Monkey? FOREVER! And it's their only U.S date!" Miko yelled.

"Well, there's a shock. I mean, who doesn't love obscure Bulgarian shriek metal?" Jack commented, when the two Autobots were finally out of the mine.

"By all appearances, this mine has been stripped," Arcee stated.

"But I'm getting a signal. It's faint, but definitely energon," Bulkhead replied when his scanner was beeping.

"Doesn't make sense. This operation has been abandoned for four or maybe five years. Decepticon never left energon behind," Arcee gave her argument.

"Which is weird if we get a signal, huh...?" Aria joined in.

"Uh, guys..." Jack called them, pointed to Miko who was running inside the mine.

"She went in. Unbelievable," Arcee commented.

"Really? Have you...met her?" the teen boy questioned.

"Miko! Get back here!" Bulkhead chased after his charge to the mine.

"Now that you mention it, I have never been inside abandoned energon mine before. I'm kinda curious now..." Aria folded her arms.

"Yeah, it will be kinda interesting to see, you know, if it were..." Jack continued.

"Safe? Stripped mine can be structurally unstable, Jack, Aria," Arcee warned the kids.

"Ow Miss Arcee, do you really think we will be that careless?" Aria pouted.

"We promise to step lightly," Jack also insisted.

Arcee thought for a while, then gave in. "Just, don't tell your mom," she said to the boy. "And your father, especially," then to her student. After that, three of them entered the mine as well.

Oblivious to anybody, Megatron and Starscream came and landed at the entrance of the cave.

"Lord Megatron, pardon me for questioning your intention, but I do not understand we return here after all this time?" the 2nd in command asked. But, his master didn't answer and just simply walked inside the mine, making the Seeker uneasy. "Every last trace of energon was extracted from this mine. There's nothing left."

Megatron turned around. "Indulge me Starscream, won't you?" he simply said.

Starscream didn't have any choice, and just followed his leader inside. He was beyond nervous.

* * *

"Wow!" Aria admired the abandoned mine. "I had no idea that it will be this big..."

"Yeah, me too," Jack added. "But, that's to be expected, I mean, Decepticons were used to run this place before, right? You should know, since you can grow to giant robot too."

"Maybe, but I can't really see that when I'm in this form..." Aria giggled.

Arcee was monitoring the two children, before she received a transmission from Bulkhead. "Bulkhead? Do you read?" but it was static. "Scrap, the mineral composition down here is causing interference."

"...Then how will we know where Miko and Bulkhead are...?" the daughter of Optimus was concerned.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Decepticon duo were at their own business. Megatron walked to the a certain place, and they found mining equipment there, inside abandoned mine. Megatron raised his optic ridge, when Starscream was so nervous.

"How intriguing..." Megatron whispered.

"Eh..ah...INCOMPETENT FOOLS! This mining equipment should be relocated! Why is it still here?!" the Seeker yelled in 'frustration'.

"The most valid question," Megatron's words made his assistant flinched.

"Eh...my apologize, master. I believed Soundwave was in charge of coordinating transport..." Starscream was even more nervous. "But in fairness, during your inter-stellar travel we had all to resume additional responsibilities. And clearly mistakes were made..." he began to walk away from his master.

"Yes...clearly..." with that, Megatron punched the wall nearby, and surprisingly pulled out a chunk of energon. "Every LAST of trace energon extracted...?"

"Lord Megatron...I can explain..." Starscream knew he was in big trouble.

"Explain WHAT?! That you had been holding a supply of energon for your personal use?!" the Decepticon warlord finally showed his irritation, as he smashed the energon chunk with his foot. "DO NOT TAKE ME FOR A FOOL STARSCREAM! I have been wise to your transgressions from the beginning. Not only did you pluck the Dark Energon from my chest in a failed attempt to snuff my spark, but you tried to raise your own undead warrior with it. It's no secret that you lost an arm in the process, which you've since had replaced."

"You know about that?!" Starscream was not only in big trouble, he was in grave danger.

"Soundwave is pretty competent in surveillance, I can assure you. The fact is, Starscream, despite your treachery, I've allowed you to carry this long, because I took a certain delight in following your string of failure. But you finally become tiresome, predictable! Until the day before, you once again tried to snuff my spark, by exposing me to the Cosmic Rust meteor! I tell you, this is already beyond the limitation! You hit rock bottom...!" Megatron finally decided it was time for death sentence, and aiming his fusion cannon to his 2nd in command.

"Master, PLEASE! Give me one more chance! I beg of you!" Starscream fell to his knees.

* * *

"Guys, do you hear something?" Aria felt like she heard something from far away.

"Well, not a chance..." Jack replied. "How about you, Arcee?"

"I also think there's something from there..." the blue bike replied.

"Then, shall we check it out?" Aria said as she raced off from the two, she ran few meters ahead of them.

Just then, she stumbled upon the view she less expected inside the mine, Megatron and Starscream. Aria was shocked, but as soon as she spotted Megatron, there was this burning anger inside her chest.

"Aria, wait for..." Jack and Arcee managed to catch up with Aria, then their eyes popped out when they witnessed the same thing.

Eventually, two of the Decepticons spotted the children and Arcee. Irritated, Megatron started to fire at the three. Three of them dodged it, but the Decepticon leader continued to fire at them. "Stay down!" Arcee commanded her charge before deploying her own weapon.

Aria deployed her cannons and charged to the first line. There was unfinished matter with Megatron. "Megatron!"

"Well well, if it isn't Aria..." surprisingly, he snickered. "I take it, Optimus is all well?"

"He's fine alright. But I don't think you will be alright after this..." Aria glared at him menacingly. She would make the Decepticon leader pay for what he had done to her father few days before. "You hurt my father..."

Megatron widened his eyes for the statement, but he expected no less. Then, much to his surprise, Starscream took off. "Starscream, you DARE to abandon me?!" he roared, as he discharged his cannon to the fleeing jet. Thanks to the purple blasts, the unstable mine started to shake.

"Oh no, this is not good..." Aria muttered as the vibration got even worse. Much to her shock, Megatron turned his attention to her and started to fire at her. She dodged almost all of them, until the last one managed to hit her. "AUGH!" the powerful purple blast threw her to the cavern wall. The sea-green femme felt like she was hit by very powerful thunderbolt, and she passed out instantly. Her body was still sparking purplish.

"ARIA!" Arcee came out of her cover and fired the blast to Megatron. She continued to fire at the Decepticon. But, Megatron misfired at the ceiling. Because of that, the ceiling and entire mine started to cave-in, burying everything underneath rocks and debris.

* * *

Aria didn't know how long she had been out, the thing she knew that, she was in great mess. When she regained consciousness, half of her body was pinned under massive tons of big rocks. "What's happening...?" she tried to remember. "That's right, Megatron...and the mine...caved in...?" she completely had no idea how the mine caved in all of the sudden. But the next thing she didn't expect, her body was aching terribly.

She did remember being hit by Megatron's fusion cannon. And the half-Autobot knew that Megatron was fueled by dark energon, meaning she was hit by dark energon blast. She already heard from the other Autobots how terrific that dark energon was. But the strange thing, the girl felt the pain not from outside her body, but from _inside_. "What is this...?" she concluded it must be the poisoning effect from dark energon, although Ratchet had never told her about pain all over your body. Being pinned under rocks and burning pain inside her body, the girl sighed in defeat.

"Jack! Miss Arcee! Miko! Bulkhead! Can anybody hear me?" her comm link was no use inside the mine, and there was nobody nearby. Aria tried to free herself from the rocks, but it was way too heavy. When she examined the structure, she decided that transforming to smaller human mode could help. But as she tried to transform, the pain was growing more intense. "Ow!" she cried out loud. "What's happening to me?" Knowing that she had little choices, she forced herself to transform despite all of her joints were burning. Finally, she managed to revert back to human, and eventually being freed from the rock.

But, Aria was struggling to stand up, not because of outer injury, her body just refused to cooperate. She was baffled, that was the first time it happened to her. The pain inside her body grew even worse when she moved her limbs. "Gotta...get out of here...and have Ratchet checking on me..." with renewed vigor, she forced herself to stand up, and finally she was able to walk, albeit limply. Her first plan was searching her teammates. The spare plan being getting out of that mine, and called for back up.

She was surprised when the rock near her was crushed away. Jack drilled in using the mining equipment. "Aria! Finally I found you!"

"Jack...?" Aria was relieved to see the boy. "How you managed to find this drill?" she limped to the thing.

"I just found it. Are you alright? You're injured?" Jack was concerned when the girl seemed to hold herself from screaming. He hopped down from the drill and assisted Aria.

"Thank you Jack..." the ponytail bit her lip to hold herself from screaming. "I...just don't know, Jack. My injury is minor, but, I feel so nasty inside me...!" Jack helped her to climb on top of the drill.

"I remember you being hit by Megatron's cannon. Could that be it?" Jack asked as he started the drill again. "I hear that dark energon is very poisonous."

"Maybe. This is my very first time being hit by that thing..." Aria plopped her back on the surface and clutched her belly.

"Can you still transform?" Jack asked again.

"I'm afraid I can't...for some reason, it hurts like a hell...!" Aria cried out in desperation.

"Just hang on, I'll get you outta here fast! You need urgent medical care!" the teen boy said.

"No...just don't mind me. I bet this is just nothing...finding the others is more important. I'll be okay, really," Aria refused. She felt like crying as every corner of her body was attacked by very nasty ache. But, thinking of her friends made her bracing for it.

Jack decided to work even faster, he drilled more opening. Then, he was shocked to find Megatron's face on the hole.

"...I suppose helping those less fortunate would be completely out of the question..." he stated for the opening.

When Aria heard the voice, she supported herself on her hands to get a better view of the buried gladiator. "Oh, what a surprise we have here..." she said with cracked voice, then she flinched from a sharp pain on her shoulder.

"I did not have a chance to say proper greeting for the daughter of my nemesis..." Megatron continued. "How is it like to be hit by dark energon, the fatal weakness for any White Cybertronian that is."

Aria widened her eyes, the fatal weakness for White Cybertronian? Dark energon? Before she could ask anything, the ponytail girl screamed as another nasty pain attacked her stomach.

"Aria!" Jack was panicking, although he tried his best to remain calm.

"It was what I felt back then when you gave me the taste of your white energon. I guessed it would be the suffice payback. If that is the case, you might as well as use your drill to finish me," Megatron continued. "I guarantee you never have a better opportunity than RIGHT NOW..."

Jack was torn apart, and he hesitated. He briefly looked to Aria who was still clutching her stomach. She was clearly suffering.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Think of the glory, seize the day! Optimus would..." the Lord of Doomsday pushed further.

"No, he wouldn't. Not like this," Jack firmly answered before turning around and drilling off again.

"I will be sure to share the detail of our little conversation with Optimus, the day I rip out his spark!"

"Cliche...like my father will lose that easy..." Aria grimaced. "By the way Jack, I didn't expect it..."

"I'm sorry if you're disappointed, he was the one who hurt your father alright, but..." Jack felt guilty now. "I just...can't. Besides, we need to go out here fast and have you being treated back in the base."

"Who said I'm disappointed? I'm glad, I'm sure father will be too," the girl forced a smile. She forced herself to stand up despite her legs were also in pain, and joined Jack's side. "What did he mean by 'fatal weakness'...?"

"Don't speak anymore. Save your strength Aria, just hang on!" Jack cut in.

And when they drilled to another place, they hit the jackpot. Bulkhead and Miko was there, together with Starscream. "Jack and Aria, get Miko outta here NOW!" the green bot was struggling to hold up the ceiling.

"Bulkhead, what the...?!" Aria forgot her aching body when she spotted what Bulkhead was doing. "Are you okay Bulk?!"

Jack leapt down to urge Miko to get on, but the pigtail girl was hesitating to leave her precious guardian behind. Eventually, with tears, the girl took Jack's hand and got on the drill. "We can't just leave Bulkhead..." they drilled out of the place. "Aria, can't you do something to safe him?!"

"Miko, Aria is in terrible condition," Jack replied. "We need to find a way outta here before Megatron takes himself free!"

"Megatron is here too?!" Miko was horrified.

But was they was about to leave, someone was in front of them. It was Arcee, all dusty but looked just fine. "Are you guys alright?" she asked as she spotted the children.

"Arcee!" Jack was relieved to see his guardian was OK.

"Arcee! This is bad! Bulkhead is there with this gigantic rock, and...Starscream!" Miko pleaded for help.

"What...?" Arcee was alarmed. "Stay here," she told the children before advancing to the said direction. True to be told, she was startled to see Bulkhead was supporting a large ceiling all by himself, and Starscream there wasn't making things any better. So, she cocked her blaster to the Seeker Con. "Don't move, Starscream..." she threatened. "Hey Bulk."

"Hey Cee..." the green bot replied.

"Raise your hands!" the blue femme ordered Starscream.

"Eh...eh...?" Starscream was terrified, but he had little choice with a blaster cocked in his face. Reluctantly, he raised both of his hands. And when Bulkhead finally let go of his own hands, it was time for batter change with Starscream. "AW!"

"BULKHEAD!" Miko was more than happy to finally see her guardian again.

"I'm tough Miko. Come on, let's get outta here fast! By the way, why is Starscream here...?" Bulkhead asked his teammate.

Arcee transformed to motorcycle. "We will fill you in the way out. Now let's go!"

* * *

It was dawn on next day when they were finally out.

"We can finish them, right here, right now," Arcee commented.

"It's a shame I didn't have any grenade!" Bulkhead was in the same argument.

"Would Optimus...finish them?" Jack asked.

"No, he wouldn't, not like this..." the blue bike said in defeat.

"But Optimus wouldn't...rescue them either...right?" Miko asked.

"He wouldn't...except for the Breakdown case few weeks ago...AW!" Aria's body was still aching terribly.

"Aria! That's right, you need urgent treatment!" Jack supported his half-machine friend with his shoulder.

"Aria, are you injured?!" Arcee crouched down to inspect her student, then, it hit her. "That's right...you were hit by Megatron's dark energon blast! It must be the poisoning effect."

"Are you...getting all of these nasty when being poisoned too...?" Aria whispered weakly. "'Cause, I feel like my body is being impaled from inside out...!"

"We should get back now!" Bulkhead urged.

* * *

Back on the base, Bulkhead and Arcee were scrubbed to clean by their charges, and Aria was in Ratchet's treatment. Optimus was right on her side, and he was so worried when he saw his daughter was in great peril.

"Father, I...owww..." the girl was in femme mode, and she was still groaning and moaning.

"Aria, don't talk anymore. You will be alright, don't worry..." the red truck was holding her hands.

"I should have expected it..." Ratchet's voice brought everyone's attention. He sounded...frustrated and angry.

"What is it, Ratchet?" Optimus asked worriedly.

"It's dark energon's effect on White Cybertronian. I should've noticed since the beginning that those two are having too much similarities and so great differences."

"What...does that mean?" Jack rubbed his head.

"It means that while those two energons have similar attribute, they are totally different things. Dark energon and white energon don't generally mix, and dark energon itself, in some quantity, can present great danger to any White Cybertronian..." Ratchet continued.

"Well, as if dark energon is good for us. You know right, it's deadly poison!" Bulkhead argued.

"Yeah, the last time I touched it, barely be able to stand on my feet...and I felt very nasty..." Arcee said, remembering her last encounter with zombified Cliffjumper.

"But the mechanism is different with Whites. When a White was infected with dark energon exposure, the white energon inside their body started fighting mechanism to fight the poisoning effect of dark energon, in order to flush the poison out of body system," the medic added.

"Whew, isn't that good thing? Having the protection from inside your body?" Bulkhead cut in.

"Let me finish it, the defensive reaction isn't always good. Because the reaction itself causes disturbance in energy flow and eventually disturb every working system inside. It can cause serious problem with system failure."

"In other words, it's some kind of allergic reaction?" Miko raised a question.

"In human term, yes. And the reaction itself, is pretty painful..." the CMO shuddered.

"So...that's why she is in that condition now...?" Arcee concerned about Aria who was still in pain on the berth. "Is it really that painful...?"

"It is, and the more dark energon entering her body, more painful it would be. Aria is lucky because the dark energon inside her body is pretty minimal. If it's more than this..." Ratchet could not bring himself to say the next words.

"Wait a minute, I remember Megatron was saying something like 'fatal weakness'...?"Jack interrupted.

Ratchet winced. "So Megatron knew it already. That dark energon is the only deadly weakness of White Cybertronian..." he muttered. "Because, if he managed to land more than this...this girl wouldn't survive today. It will be slow, and extremely painful process...from inside your body."

Every Autobot presented were terrified and shuddering. They couldn't imagine it, dying at slow and painful process.

"While I first thought this white energon was majestic and all..." Miko was bit disappointed.

"Miko, you don't have the right to say such thing," Jack cut in.

"Yeah, everything has its own weakness," Raf said.

"White Cybertronian may be vulnerable to dark energon more than normal Cybertronian. But, the white energon itself isn't all weak against dark energon," Ratchet stated. "In fact, it's the only type of energon which can neutralize the poison from dark energon, making it the most effective agent for countering dark energon."

"Then, why you said she could die if infected more than this?" Arcee was even more confused. "Should the white energon just neutralize it?"

"Because the dark energon itself is the white energon's weakness," Ratched made everyone presented even more confused.

"I think I've heard it somewhere, like, the theory of Yin and Yang or some kind..." Jack stated. "You know, they said that the black side fighting the white side with no one has either advantages or disadvantages..."

"The theory of balance, huh...?" Arcee finally got it. "So, is there anything we can do to...cure her?"

"Right now what I'm doing is dumping all of her old energon and replenishing with new one," he turned around to tend his patient again. "Be patient, Aria, soon the pain will be gone."

"Okay..." Aria was panting heavily.

"Ratchet, can you at least do something to ease the pain?" Optimus asked, seeing his daughter suffering made his spark aching as well.

"Unfortunately no, the only thing to ease the pain is getting rid all of the dark energon trace. The defensive mechanism of her white energon will do the job for it," Ratchet replied. "Until then, we can only wait. Aria, just hang on for little bit more."

"Don't worry Ratch, father...this is nothing..." the girl forced a smile. "In fact, I already...feel much better...than before. In an hour or so, I'll be fine...maybe..."

* * *

Megatron was back in Nemesis by dragging Starscream all the way. Both of them were completely mess, especially for the Seeker jet.

"Lord Megatron, I'm really grateful for your sincere and kindness. I shall do everything I can to repay what you have done to safe this life of mine..." Starscream said.

"You'd better know what you are saying, Starscream," Megatron alerted his talkative 2nd in command. "You have to make sure that I would never regret of saving your useless life today." With that, he walked off.

"By all the glory of my great master Megatron, I shall not fail you anymore!" Starscream announced, and as his leader was pretty much far away, he snarled. "Useless life, huh? You'd better know whom you are talking to..." oblivious to him, Airachnid was watching him from the corner.

* * *

By the evening, Ratchet finally discharged Aria from his med bay, but strictly told her to take a rest in her quarter until she fully recovered. Miko and Raf were returning home, however Jack stayed behind bit longer. He and Optimus were having conversation.

"I knew that you wouldn't do such thing, you know, harming someone who was in pinch...so I didn't do it..." Jack was telling Optimus of the incident in the mine. "Besides, finding the others was more important. Aria was in bad shape, so I really had no time to deal with that creepy giant Decepticon..."

Optimus listened to it intently. He was pretty amazed that such young boy could make such decision.

"But now, I felt kinda guilty. I mean, that guy was the cause of your war, and you Autobots were struggling to put his life to the end. Then, when he was right in front of me and I had the chance...I just didn't do it..." the boy rubbed his head nervously. "I think, I owe you an apology for it..."

"There is no need for you to feel guilty, Jack," Optimus cut in. "You have made the right decision at the right time, and I'm pretty proud of you. You were capable of raising yourself above reasons. In fact, I owe you for saving my Autobots and also my daughter from harm's way."

"Aw, it's nothing, really..." Jack blushed. "You guys all are my best friends, like Miko and Raf...I just did what a friend supposed to do, helping each other."

"No need to be that low, Jack," Aria popped in. "You were the hero for today."

"Aria?!" both were surprised to see the girl who was supposed to be in bed. "Are you alright...?" Jack was concerned.

"Yeah, I'm all good now," though the way she walked told the otherwise. The ponytail even had to support herself to Optimus' leg. "Now Jack, you saved us all. I really want to thank you for saving me, really thank you."

"Aw, not you too..." Jack blushed even redder.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you but," Arcee walked in as well. "Jack, it's time for you to go home."

"Oh yeah, my mom will be worried again if I'm late. I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow," Jack walked to his motorcycle.

"See you tomorrow Jack!" Aria waved the two good bye. "Phew..." she sighed heavily.

Optimus was concerned about his daughter. He crouched down to see her face better, and he could tell that she was still ill. "Aria, I believed Ratchet had told you to take a rest. You should not push yourself," he advised.

"I know, I just wanted to meet Jack, I haven't said thank you to him, you know. And, there's something I want to say," she paused. "Megatron already knew that I'm your daughter now. Well, that may be not surprising. But, he also knew that I'm vulnerable to dark energon. I mean, how he knew it when our expert medic absolutely had no idea about that? Ratchet said that the document about White Cybertronian wasn't too clear."

"Megatron was once working alongside me in Hall of Record, and I already told him so much about the historical document hidden inside. Though I also had no idea how he managed to acknowledge such thing, he did possess the knowledge of White Cybertronian legend..." Optimus replied. "The thing I can come up with is, the dark energon itself told him that."

"You mean, that dark energon has sentient mind...?" Aria frowned. It was the thing she had never heard, even from Arianna's memory.

Optimus wanted to say more, but he saw that the girl was panting and struggling to stand up. "We shall continue the discussion tomorrow, my dear," he scooped the ponytail gently with his palms. "After you recover, that is. You need your rest."

"Oh, wow," Aria noticed that Optimus was bringing her back to her quarter. "Guess I can't say no, huh?" she giggled.

"Rest assure, my daughter, I shall not let Megatron to get any closer to you," Optimus stated. "Knowing the fact that he is far dangerous even for you, there is just no way." His words were somehow grudging.

"Relax, father. I'm a White not just for being killed by his dark energon," Aria smiled. Then, she flinched as her shoulder was hurting once again. "Ow...!"

Optimus also flinched, and he stopped in mid-track. "Aria..." he was alarmed.

"It's nothing big," Aria quickly replied. "It will go away once I have my sleep, really." She raised her hand as the sign of reassuring, but that sudden movement made all her arm muscle aching once again. "Owwww...!" she groaned, though the pain wasn't too bad now. She realized that she was still far from full recovery.

"Don't push yourself," Optimus opened the door to Aria's quarter. He placed the girl slowly to the master size bed.

"Thanks, father," Aria felt so happy that her father tucked her in the bed.

"Now, have your rest," he stood up, preparing to leave. "Good night, my sweetspark."

"Good night too, father," Aria replied.

Optimus closed the door, and vented sadly. His daughter was still in pain, yet there was so little he could do about it. Megatron finally knew about his relationship with Aria, and it was clear that the Decepticon tyrant would soon pursue his daughter. Not only that, Megatron also presented even greater danger for Aria herself, he had the capability to kill her off in instant. Optimus clenched his fist, he was angered knowing the fact that Megatron already made his beloved daughter gravely injured. "I shall not let you away with this, Megatron..." he hissed.


	11. Partners

"_A true friend never gets in the way unless you happen to be going down"_

* * *

"I have been a fool. Made mistakes. Monumental ones. I now realize I was never destined to be leader, or even an equal partner. And, I am at peace with that. I have gained a clear understanding of my place in the universe. Of who I am. Of who I was always meant to be. Starscream: second in command, humble servant to Lord Megatron. Thank you for listening, Soundwave," Starscream was doing some sort of sin confessing to Soundwave nonetheless.

After that, he entered the command center of Nemesis to find Megatron and Airachnid talking.

"Is this true?!" Megatron wasn't sounded too pleased.

"Starscream never mentioned it?" Airachnid asked back.

"If this is one of his tricks, I shall grind him to powder!"

Starscream knew that he was once again, in trouble. "Cough cough. Lord Megatron, please excuse Airachnid's impertinence! Now...what was it that I allegedly fail to mention...?" he was in a position as low as possible.

"The Harbinger," Megatron replied.

Starscream jumped. "Ah...what about it?"

"Eons ago, the Decepticon transport crash-landed on this planet," Airachnid brought up the image of the ship on the computer.

"Oh please, common knowledge! I scouted the crash site when we first arrived on Earth!" the Seeker argued.

"Then I presumed you recovered the experimental weapon prototype the Harbinger had been transporting?" Airachnid finally revealed her point. Starscream was speechless.

"Where's the crash site?" Megatron asked this time.

"It was never locked on your ship's database," the spider bot added.

"You failed to record the coordinates of Decepticon's transport?!" once again, the Decepticon leader was irritated.

"Ah...an oversight, master. But, I noted the exact location," Starscream made an excuse.

"Then you can lead Airachnid there. So she may retrieve the prototype for me."

"My personal native guide," Airachnid smirked to Starscream. "How delightful..."

* * *

When Aria woke up the next morning, she felt way much better than the night before. She didn't feel any ache whatsoever when she stretched. "Guess what...I'll never be in such thing again..." even remembering the nasty pain caused by dark energon allergic reaction could make the half-Autohot shuddered. She would make sure to stay out from Megatron's weapon from there on.

After some cleaning and dressing up, she headed to the command center. "Oh, father!" much to her delight, the Autobot leader was there, together with the other Autobots.

"Good morning, Aria," Optimus smiled. "How is your condition?"

"Fine, much better," the girl giggled.

"Not until I make clear of it, now, stay still," Ratchet approached her, and activated his scanner. "Hmm, it looks like the dark energon had been wiped out completely from your system. By all appearances, you're in perfect shape."

"Thanks, doctor," Aria turned her attention to the other two bots. "Hi there, Bulkhead, Bumblebee."

"Hi too, Aria," Bulkhead answered.

"...Where's Miss Arcee?" the girl looked around to see her favorite mentor was missing.

"Out for some private business, it seems..." Bulkhead shrugged. "And to be honest, private business meaning we doesn't know anything."

"Hmmm..." Aria pondered. "Well, then I'll try to contact her from my comm. It has been a while since we have a nice spar..."

"Aria...you...!" Ratchet was startled, and annoyed. "You just recovered from dark energon infection, you want to head straight to another problem now?!"

"What kind of problem? I just want to have some light spar," Aria argued back.

"Aria, it will be the wise choice if you take more rest," Optimus spoke in.

"Well father, some exercise won't hurt, right? I promise it won't go more than 1 hour," for her father, she had to use some soft words. She reached her comm, "Miss Arcee, this is me."

"I suggest both of you just give it up," Bulkhead talked to both concerned Autobots. "That girl has a real nice taste for endless kick and punch. Right Bee?" Bumblebee nodded in argument.

* * *

Arcee was outside, visiting Cliffjumper's grave.

"Hi partner, what a view you got up here," she said. "There's even a small chance of your spark is out there listening. Well...we could really use you, Cliff. Seems like every day another Decepticon arrives on the scene. We're outnumbered and outgunned," she paused, then smiled a bit. "Yeah, I know what you would say, sounds like a fair fight. If that's the world we'd live in, so be it..." then, she clenched her fist. "I just want you to know, I haven't given up. I'm gonna find the Con who took you from us...!" she swore.

Just then, a comm from Aria reached in. "_Miss Arcee, this is me._"

"Oh Aria? You're awake yet?" Arcee answered. "What is it?"

"_Well, I was wondering if you don't mind for some sparring with me..._?"

Arcee widened her eyes, she knew that girl just went through the dark energon allergy, and that girl was already up for work out? The blue motorcycle sighed, Aria was very...strong.

"_Miss Arcee? What's wrong...?_"

"Ah, yeah...well, as long as your body is up for it. Are you sure you will be okay?" she was concerned at any way.

"_Ah, don't be silly. I won't lose to some freaky purplish gooey stuff, you know!"_ much to the femme's amusement, Aria already picked up some of Miko's habit of talking. "_My father and Ratchet already permitted it, as long as I don't push it too much though. So what do you say, coach?_"

"Okay then, I have to make sure you're not doing crazy things after all. I'll be back in few minutes," Arcee disconnected the link. She felt it bit weird, Aria was still calling her 'coach' even though the older femme was already nothing more than sparring partner and supervisor, not that she would mind it though. She transformed to motorcycle and got back to base.

* * *

"Ah, Miss Arcee!" Aria was delighted as the blue motorcycle sped in the base.

"Hello there girl. Well, you're really in better shape today," she stated.

"Oh sure thing," Aria gave her thumb up. "So, shall we start it?"

"Okay," both femmes then disappeared to the hallway.

"Optimus, I think you should really talk to her about not to be so obsessed with work out," Ratchet said. He found it funny that he was the one said it, while before he advised his old friend to let that girl to use her ability for real time use. But Ratchet had found that Aria's fondness for combat training could become a problem in future. "Her body is still growing after all."

"But Aria has her talent, and I do not intend to limit her freedom to enjoy what she wants to do," Optimus gave his argument. "Besides, I have assigned Arcee to monitor my daughter. I know I can trust her judgement."

* * *

Meanwhile, Starscream and Airachnid were arriving at certain jungle plain, to locate the Harbinger as well as the weapon it carried. Starscream just transformed, followed closely by Airachnid.

"Your chosen vehicle mode lacks...thrust," Starscream commented over the spider's heli mode.

"Are you going to preen or going to guide?" but the spider didn't want to do games.

"I will reveal the exact location of the Harbinger, when you tell me what exactly we're looking for," Starscream argued back.

"That information is me to know, and right now, you don't," Airachnid was proven to be tough.

"Oh you would do well to respect me, Airachnid. Before I joined Megatron, I was Air Commander of a squadron of Energon Seekers," the jet explained.

"On Cybertron, and how many eons ago was that?" got busted by the spider lady however.

"Just recently, I personally anguished one of Optimus Prime's fearsome warrior, _Cliffjumper_!" Starscream still had more to go.

"_You_ snuffed an Autobot?" Airachnid intrigued.

"Yes I did, without mercy."

"Ow, even Megatron showed you mercy when he planned to terminate you at the mine," said Airachnid.

"WHAT?! He told you about THAT?!" the jet was startled to the end.

"We talked," the spider simply responded. "In fact, you pretty much deserved it. You tried to steal _my stuff_ before."

"Oh, you mean that White femme? I knew it, you are after the white energon too, are you not, Airachnid?" Starscream snickered.

"I'm not like you, I have much better plan with that girl after all. Now, are we going to waste any more minutes to add more fuel to our leader's anger?" Airachnid demanded.

The Seeker grunted. "The wreckage just lies beneath where we stand. I will need to find a point of entry..." he later found out that it was unnecessary, as the spider already drilled her way to underground. "Show off...!"

Both of the Decepticons entered the ruins of Harbinger. "Suit yourself, I've conducted a throughout search of these years ago," Starscream said as Airachnid crawled her way inside. But he was startled as the spider activated the computer inside the wreckage. "What's your doing?!"

"Accessing the cargo manifest. Or didn't you think to do that during your throughout search?"

"Idiot, the system hadn't been activated for eons. The Autobots could detect the energy signature," Starscream warned.

"Ah, heere it is! Section 23," Airachnid smirked.

* * *

Back in Autobot training room, Arcee and Aria were engaging in _very light _sparring. "HAH!" Arcee swung her last punch, before called it enough. "Okay, I think that's enough for now, Aria," she said.

"Well, okay," Aria sighed, it was much shorter than her usual sparring, but Arcee already said it. "Thank you, Miss Arcee."

"Don't mention it," Arcee replied. Even though her student was already influenced by Miko's antics, she was still in her usual politeness.

"Okay so, mind to tell me what is it about?" Aria suddenly asked.

"What?" Arcee raised her optic ridge.

"Is it just me, or you're bit off today? I could tell by how you performed just before," the sea-green femme explained.

"Well, I just took it easy with you, you were just recovered," the blue femme reasoned.

"No, that's not what I meant. When we were sparring, your mind seemed to be at somewhere else," Aria explained further. "Not to mention, when I contacted you, your voice just sounded not too right."

"Oh yeah...?" Arcee admitted it, her student had great skill of observation. "Sorry, I must have daydream..."

"And may I know what thing bothers you?" Aria walked closer to her mentor. "Well, if it's very personal thing, you don't have to tell me. Just, I really want to make sure my senior is in perfect shape for any sudden emergency call. And the most important thing, you're in perfect condition."

Arcee knew it was already Aria's nature to worry over everyone around her. When the older femme didn't want to hide anything from her student and teammate, there was no way she could make her worried more than that. "I was just...thinking of some minor thing, you know. It's nothing big really, and I think I'll get over with it soon..."

"Okay then, that's good," surprisingly, that girl didn't push further. "Just tell me if you need anything, okay?"

"Yeah," Arcee nodded. "You know, it may be nice for me to...Aria...?" she noticed that Aria was looking straight to wall, and her eyes were empty. "Aria, what's wrong?"

Aria was in trance, as another memory of Arianna unlocked inside her head.

_An adult femme was running toward the group of sparkling. "The warning had been raised, we have to get out of here now! Hurry up, kids!" It was another evacuation._

_The sparkling group together with adult Autobots were scrambling out of the shelter. The city was already be taken too, by the Decepticons._

_"Where are we heading now?!" Arianna was facing directly to the femme._

_"Per instruction from the soldier, we're going to head to Crystal City now! Hurry up, Arianna!"_

_"Crystal City?! That's too far from here!" Arianna was protesting. "My father! He won't be able to find me!"_

_"Don't worry, I'm sure your father will be informed from this. The safety of yours is at the stake now. Hurry up, we are going!" the adult femme just pulled Arianna's hand and they ran out of the war zone. Arianna was terrified as stray shots were dangerously close to them. It was scary nonetheless for a young girl to be at that situation._

_But, there was nothing more scarier, than a 32 feet tall scary-looking Decepticon landed in front of you. Megatron approached the two femmes._

_"Found you..." Megatron snickered._

_"You are...the Decepticon leader!" the adult femme was terrified, as she stood protectively in front of Arianna and the other sparkling. "What do you want?!"_

_"I will not unnecessarily hurt the young ones, if only you surrender me the blue one behind you," Megatron pointed directly to Arianna. "Hand her to me, and I shall not hurt you or the others."_

_"No! You're not going to touch her!" the femme just guarded all the sparkling with her body._

_"I'm not for negotiation," Megatron just aimed his cannon, and blasted the defenseless femme. She was killed in instant._

_"NO!" Arianna was horrified, but it wasn't long as Megatron continued to fire. Fearing for her life, Arianna didn't dare to move. She just closed her eyes and hearing as the blast continued. When it finally ended, she opened her eyes again. She wasn't any prepared for what she was about to see. All the sparklings around her, they were killed mercilessly by Megatron._

_"Now, I finally found you, Arianna..." Megatron walked closer to the remaining girl._

_"How...do you know my name...?" Arianna tried to move away from the demon in front of her._

_"Your father and I were close acquaintance," the Decepticon warlord simply said. "Which is why, I want you to come with me now."_

_"No, STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Arianna shrieked. "FATHER! HELP ME!"_

_"Megatron is here!" finally, one Autobot soldier noticed them. "CALL PRIME, WE NEED BACK UP!"_

_"Call the Prime huh, guess I am short of time here," with one swift motion, he scooped the frightened little femme with his hand. Pretty soon, he was pursued by a group of Autobots. "A-ah, lower your weapon, or I will kill this girl," he threatened._

_"This is Team 6, we have hostage situation! Megatron raided the group of refugees of sparkling, and right now he has one blue femme in his hands! Repeat, we need back up!"_

_"Yeah, if Optimus even gets here, tell him that I will take this one out, and if he wants her, he has to beg for it to me," with that, he summoned Decepticon back up, and made his getaway as his troop was distracting the Autobots._

It was the end of the memory, leaving Aria pretty much shocked. She finally knew the chronology of Arianna's kidnapping, and she had no idea that it would be that nasty. Arianna herself never verbally told her about the killing of the other sparkling.

"Aria!" Arcee's voice snapped her back to reality.

"Huh? What is it...?" Aria was startled.

"What happened to you? You were staring at the wall and you didn't hear me calling..." Arcee was rather concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just...another flashback, from Arianna, of course," Aria replied.

"Oh, another memory from Arianna, huh?"

"You heard it," the sea-green femme sighed heavily. "Not the nice one though. It was the time when Megatron finally took her as hostage...en route to Crystal City."

"Yeah, I remembered that time, Megatron killed a group of sparkling when they were evacuated to Crystal City...wait a minute, Arianna was among them?" the blue femme was surprised. "I...had no idea that Megatron would do such thing to simply targeting one from them..."

"It's crazy huh? But, nothing crazier than seeing someone being killed in front of your eyes, and being surrounded by dead corpses, those who was still alive few seconds ago..." she saw it clearly, and could perfectly feel the horror Arianna felt. Her older sister was beyond terrified. "Perhaps I will talk to father about this..."

"_Aria, Arcee, come here immediately_," Ratchet commed both of them.

"Say Miss Arcee, does this feel like deja vu?" Aria questioned.

"No, because we will get this kind of thing every now and then," the older femme replied. "Let's go."

* * *

"I've detected an ancient Decepticon energy signature," Ratchet announced to the team.

"And what does that supposed to mean? Another Decepticon arrives on Earth?" Bulkhead questioned.

"I'm still not clear about that," Ratchet said. "Although, I guess this is just an ancient system being activated after long period of time."

Optimus and all his armed team GroundBridge to the location. Aria was in charge of holding the scanner and looked for the exact location of the energy signature. "It's coming from down there," they found a very big hole leading to the underground.

"The thing we are looking for must be located down there," Optimus stated. With that, they all plunged to the hole. "This is..." Optimus recognized the surrounding of the basement.

_Seems like a warship for me_ Bumblebee commented.

"Could it be a Decepticon Harbinger that crashed on Earth many years ago?" Arcee questioned.

"So, where will we start?" Bulkhead said as he looked around the corridor.

They decided to follow the hallway itself, and that was when they stumbled upon Airachnid in mid way. "Airachnid!" Arcee shouted.

"Surrender!" Optimus added.

But Airachnid decided to make her escape to where she came from, with Arcee and the others in hot pursuit. The Autobots were quite surprised to see Starscream was webbed there. Airachnid crawled pass him, and drilled her way out from there.

"Airachnid, YOU TRAITOR!" the Seeker jet shouted angrily. It was clear that something not good happening between the two Decepticons.

"Mind to tell me what kind of game you were playing, huh Starscream?" Bulkhead mocked.

"Must be the hard one," Aria mused, then she noticed that Arcee was still pursuing Airachnid through the hole.

"Arcee, WAIT!" Optimus' frantic call went unheard, and he was too big to fit into the hole.

"Miss Arcee...not again!" Aria groaned, as her mentor once again carelessly risked her own safety. "Father, I will go!"

Optimus nodded in approval. "Be careful, Aria," he said.

Aria nodded, before climbing out of the hole as well. When she got out of the hole, as expected, Arcee and Airachnid were engaging in fight. Even though she was really concerned, she had no intention to buff in the fight. But, it seemed like things taking turn to the worse, as Airachnid managed to grab Arcee and gripped her tightly.

"Speaking of, want to add more deceased partner to your growing list?" Airachnid taunted as she choked the blue femme.

"MISS ARCEE!" that was it, Aria decided to step in. She aimed her cannon to the spider. "Airachnid! Let go of her!"

"Oh Aria, long time no see, my darling. How are you doing? Saving your beloved Miss Arcee, I assume?" Airachnid was more than delighted to see the half-Autobot.

Not for long, Optimus also showed up with blaster cocked. "AIRACHNID! RELEASE HER!" he demanded. Fearing for her safety, Airachnid immediately tossed Arcee aside, transformed to helicopter and flew off.

"Miss Arcee, you okay?" Aria immediately secured her senior.

"Arcee, you know better than to engage the enemy alone," Optimus warned his 2nd in command.

"Not her, not after what she did to Tailgate..." Arcee replied grudgingly. "She will pay..."

"Revenge would not bring back those we have lost. Is that understood?" the Autobot leader made his point clear.

Arcee shut her optics painfully, she did know about that fact. And that fact hurt her even more. She really needed to do something, to relieve her from pain of the past. And that thing would be snuffing out Airachnid's spark.

"Move it!" Bulkhead and Bumblebee shoved the webbed Starscream to the upper ground.

"No need to use force," Starscream said as he was pushed back to his knees in front of Optimus. "I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"Hah, is that right? And what do you want in return?" the big green asked.

"Returning to you the Allspark perhaps?" Aria threatened.

Optimus first told Aria to stand behind him, and then walked forward to hear what Starscream was to say.

"I want to be...on your side," the Seeker simply stated.

"What...?" Aria was skeptical, as good as it sounded, he was _Starscream_. And somehow, Starscream's begging look really disgusted the half-Autobot.

"On _our side_?! Haha, yeah right! And I've been lobbing with the fallen!" Bulkhead laughed.

"You wouldn't betray the Decepticons," Arcee stated.

"Wouldn't I? What they've done lately to me, besides humiliated me, spied on me, remote me! Megatron tried to extinguish my spark in cold blood, and replaced me with that treacherous Airachnid!" Starscream argued back. "She abandoned me, left me for scrap! So why not rat them out?"

Optimus, Aria, Arcee, and Bulkhead decided to discuss it when Bumblebee guarded the prisoner. "He's telling the truth about Megatron tried to scrap him," Arcee began. "I saw with my own eyes."

"You're not saying that you actually trust Starscream," Bulkhead was still skeptical.

"I'm with Bulkhead for this case," Aria, for the first time she wasn't with Arcee's argument.

"Trust him? Never! But this maybe the one time our objectives aligned," the blue femme stated again.

"You were right to be worried, Aria and Bulkhead. But I agree with Arcee," Optimus concluded.

"So, we're taking him with us now?" Aria sighed in defeat. "I'm in, only if you agree letting me scrap his head if he makes the wrong move."

"I agree with you for that part, kiddo," Bulkhead agreed.

* * *

So, they stuffed the handcuffed Starscream into Optimus' trailer, and the Seeker told them about the Harbinger, the secret weapon, and the location of Airachnid's target. They were driving to the said location.

"Miss Arcee, you okay?" Aria asked when she was riding the motorcycle. She and Arcee were close, so Aria could tell if there was something wrong with Arcee.

"Aria, I want you to tell me something," Arcee replied. "How do you refrain yourself from taking revenge?"

"Huh?" Aria frowned to the sudden question.

"You've been in similar situation as me, right? You saw Arianna, being killed in front of your eyes," Arcee began.

"Yeah, it's right..." Aria reflected back to that day. "If you mean those scientists...well, you had no idea how much I wanted them to pay for it. Not after what they've done to me, controlling me to kill innocent people just to keep their hands clear, completely against my will. But for that reason also, I didn't want to shed more blood, not after I was free, and what was more, with Arianna's hand."

"But...if you ever get the perfect chance for it, will you do it, to avenge Arianna's death?" Arcee was uncertain.

Aria knew where they were going. "No, not a chance, Arianna wouldn't want it," The ponytail shook her head. "Besides, I know I would not be in peaceful life after I done it..."

Even with such answer, Arcee wasn't satisfied. After all, their conditions were totally different. Finally, they reached the location.

"What do you know?" Bulkhead said as they glanced to the cliff area.

"It still can be a trap," Arcee added.

"Starscream's loyalty to Megatron has always been questionable," Optimus said. "If he has truly split from the Decepticons, our prisoner's knowledge of their agendas could make him a valuable ally."

"You don't mean _permanently _as in keys to the base and everything?!" Bulkhead was unhappy to hear that the Decepticon getting access to their base.

"However unlikely that scenario, every sentient being deserves an opportunity for redemption," the Autobot leader explained.

"Even bot killers?! Even Airachnid?!" Arcee was somewhat annoyed.

"Without that hope, we may never achieve lasting peace," Optimus replied.

"You have a point, father," Aria nodded, then turned to her teammates. "Guys, I was a criminal once, remember?"

"Your case was different, little girl," Bulkhead opened the trailer and pulled out their prisoner. "Rise and shine, Screamy."

"We're here. Where's the ship?" Arcee questioned.

"Through there, among the stones," Starscream replied when he studied his surrounding.

"Aria, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, you're with me. Arcee, remain with our prisoner," Optimus ordered.

Arcee was startled when told to stay behind. "Optimus, please," she insisted. "For Tailgate..."

"Your desire to avenge Tailgate will only continue to cloud your judgement," Optimus ended the argument. Then, the four of them left.

Aria just felt bad about it, but she agreed with Optimus. Her mentor could get herself in danger again if she came across Airachnid at that state. She sighed, the sea-green femme planned to have nice, and long chat with the older femme once their mission had been completed. As they approached the ship location, they were on full alert.

"Be alert, Airachnid is known to attack from below ground," Optimus warned his members.

"Right..." Bulkhead nodded.

They finally reached the ship's location. It was quiet, way too quiet. Optimus motioned them to move forward, and as they approached the ship's ruin, they were attacked by a laser from the spider lady. Optimus retaliated by shooting his blaster to the enemy.

"I got it!" Bulkhead moved in and shot his cannon. Airachnid fired the beam to him, and it froze him to dead statue.

"The Immobilizer, true to its name..." the spider bot was pleased by her new toy, and proceeded to attack the remaining three Autobots. Optimus, Aria, and Bumblebee split and took cover behind the rocks.

* * *

Meanwhile, Arcee was pacing back and forth in front of Starscream. She was clearly bored of Starscream's endless ramble.

"I'm not really so bad, you know. Megatron, he's the evil one!" the jet spoke again.

"Tell it to someone who cares," Arcee replied.

"Like whom? Airachnid? What I wouldn't do to get my hands around her wretched throat..." at least he was honest about that.

"So we can agree on one thing," the Autobot femme commented.

"Oh you have no idea. She showed up one day, and the next thing you know she's acting like she runs the place! She whispered lies to Megatron's ears, maneuvered to remove me from my rightful place!" Starscream continued.

"Well...she terminated my partner," Arcee explained her problem with the spider.

"WHAT? She's taking credit for scrapping him now too?! That was my doing!" the Seeker was annoyed even more.

"What? You weren't there," Arcee was intrigued.

"Uh, of course I wasn't...I don't know what I was thinking..." Starscream learnt he really had to watch his mouth.

"Who are you talking about?" the blue femme was suspicious.

"No one. Who are you talking about?" but the Seeker was curious after all.

"Tailgate."

"Who's Tailgate?"

It dawned to Arcee. "You are the one! You extinguished Cliffjumper!"

"CLIFFJUMPER?!" Starscream realized he was in big trouble, as Arcee was prepared to smash him. "No! No, no! You misunderstand! It wasn't like what you think! I was trying to help Cliffjumper! Putting him out of his misery, he begged me to!"

But Arcee didn't buy that as she kicked Starscream away. She was about to avenge her other partner.

"Okay okay! I made a mistake! But I've changed! You wouldn't terminate a defenseless prisoner, would you?" Starscream begged.

Arcee was more than ready to terminate the protocol, as she dropped a key card. "It's the key to your cuffs."

"What for?"

"Cliff would have given you fighting chance," Arcee made her point.

"No please! I don't want to! What's past is past! I'm one of you now!" the jet refused.

The past always mattered. Arcee didn't want to play anymore games, as she cocked her blaster to the Seeker. "Take IT!" she demanded. But Starscream was somewhat...shaky and unable to use the key card. "You pathetic..." she hissed, and the blue femme bent down to pick up the key.

That was when, Starscream finally struck the distracted femme with his claw. The Decepticon was able to free himself after all. "Something wrong Arcee...? I thought you wanted a fight..." he showed his true color.

* * *

"You gotta to be kidding me..." Aria commented as she took cover and prepared her white blast. When she had the chance, she came up and fired few rounds to Airachnid. That spider was really flexible and agile, although Aria's powerful white blast was powerful enough to blow the rocks around her feet, and eventually sent the spider flying. "Stay still will you?!"

Aria was taking cover near her father's location. Once again, the spider disappeared, and popped out behind the Prime and Bumblebee.

"Freeze!" Airachnid successfully froze Optimus as well.

"FATHER!" Aria shrieked, and she joined Bumblebee firing back to the spider, but she disappeared to the ground again.

_Come over here! _the yellow bot urged Aria to come with him to take cover further back.

"Two more to go. Aria, my little sweetspark, where are you? Come over here and be a nice little girl. Don't worry, I won't hurt you," Airachnid sang aloud. "Tell me bug, do you think Megatron would enjoy his new trophies? He'd probably use the green one here for target practice. And Prime, is the true prize."

"How dare she touched my father like that...?!" Aria was disgusted as the spider was crawling on top of Optimus. "Stay away from him, you filthy spider...!"

_No, not now!_ Bumblebee held her back. When Airachnid shot them with her blaster, the stray shots hitting the dirt gave Bumblebee an idea. He shot the cliff as well and produced a dust fog as their cover.

"Nice one, Bee!" Aria was amazed by the perfect strategy. Being clouded by the dust, both of the younglings started to fire back to Airachnid.

Airachnid finally scooped behind the dust with the Immobilizer, and as it settled down, Bumblebee and Aria were unmoving on their feet. "Finally, I got you, my little beauty..." the spider was glad that she finally got Aria. "You will be my first place trophy. Not to mention, you have so many use for me. But you bug, I suspect Megatron would simply dismantle you for spare parts." She crawled back to Optimus. "As a rogue, a scavenger, I should disappear into the night with this treasure. But using it to yarn my way into Megatron's favor is too good opportunity to pass on. Wouldn't you say Prime? I mean with results like this, I can earn Megatron's eternal trust..."

Oblivious to her, Bumblebee and Aria snuck from her behind, and the yellow bot sent a punch to her face. "HIYAH!" Aria moved forward and kicked the staff out of Airachnid's hand. Bumblebee then shattered the Immobilizer using his blaster "Sneaking tactic success!" she declared.

"You fool!" Airachnid hissed, but Aria sent a powerful kick to her jaw.

"This is for Miss Arcee!" Aria took out her blaster and shot the spider. The spider bot finally called it retreat and flew of in copter mode. "So much for a closure. Nice strategy you have there, Bee," Aria commented. "Now, what should we do with them...?" she was concerned about her father and Bulkhead.

_We should look for some help_ the yellow scout beeped.

"Yeah, you're right, let's go back to have Miss Arcee help us," Aria agreed. After all, Optimus and Bulkhead weren't going anywhere.

* * *

But much to their shock, Starscream was already free from his bond, and he got entangled with Arcee. Arcee had him pinned under her blade, and she was more than prepared to deal a killing blow.

"Miss Arcee!" Aria shouted.

Arcee was shocked to see two of the younglings, and after some more thought, she finally released her grasp of Starscream. The blue femme limped and finally collapsed on the ground. Bumblebee and Aria slid down to help her, she was in terrible shape.

"What the...?" Aria was shocked to see her mentor was gravely injured. She knew immediately that the Decepticon must have something to do with it. She went after the Seeker, grabbed him, and put him at gunpoint. "WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO HER, SCRAPHEAD?!" she yelled in pure rage.

Starscream already had enough of the day, but he was terrified once being yelled. "Eh..uh...it's not like what you imagine! It's a self defense, really!"

"Self defense of what?! You think I'm going to eat that?!" the girl wasn't going to let anybody hurt her friends. But, Bumblebee's calling stopped her. "...Yeah, Bee. I know," she harshly threw the Con to the ground, the girl already hated Starscream even more than Megatron. "Remember this, next time I see your sorry face again, I'll make sure your head would not stay in same place anymore..." she gave the creepy threat, before turning around and going back to Arcee and Bumblebee.

"Aria..." Arcee whispered weakly.

"Stay still," Aria deployed her syringe and started to tend Arcee's wound. "Bee, call the base for help when I take care of this, will you?" then she glanced to her mentor. "What happened, Miss Arcee...?" but Arcee remained silent.

"He was the one...who killed Cliffjumper..." the blue motorcycle simply answered.

Aria was startled to the new fact. And she could guess what happened next, Arcee was trying to get some payback to Starscream but her plan got backfired. The girl sighed, seemed like her mentor would never get over with her desire to avenge her deceased partners. "Miss Arcee..."

"I know, this revenge thing may not be the best, but..." Arcee's voice was cracked. She couldn't bring herself to continue. "Cliff was..."

"Miss Arcee, remember the things you said to me before? It's not about what you want, but what you need in order to move on."

The older femme widened her eyes, surprised.

"Unlike my father, I wouldn't advise you anything about avenging your deceased partners. But you really think...taking revenge is what you really need in order to move on with your life?" Aria questioned back.

* * *

Back on the base, Ratchet already repaired the Immobilizer and unfroze Optimus and Bulkhead. "The damage look bad, but it was a snap to repair allowing us to reverse its effect on you. You should regain your full range of motion before long."

"And, Arcee...?" Optimus asked worriedly.

"She's rather resilient, for two-wheeler..."

Optimus turned around, Arcee was sitting on metal berth with Aria on her side. The blue femme looked just fine after being healed by Aria and Ratchet, but, her inside wasn't alright yet.

"It was the external wounds which healed the quickest," Optimus stated.

"I thought settling the score would allow me to move on..." Arcee sadly commented. "Instead I chase away our hope to win this war anytime soon..."

"Wisdom cannot be granted, Arcee," Optimus knew that the femme finally realized it. "It must be earned. Sometimes...at a cost..."

Arcee reflected back, the memory of her and Cliffjumper played through her processor. She wasn't sure if she could really get over with it. But, one thing she knew, things wouldn't be the same anymore...no matter how much she wished for it, it wasn't what she needed.

* * *

Back in the canyon, Starscream was banging his wing clamp to the rock, until it shattered. He already made his decision.

"_I have been a fool. Made mistakes. Monumental ones. But I have gained a clear understanding of my place in the universe. Of who I am. Starscream: aligned with no side, servant to no one." _With that, he soared off. Not to the Decepticon warship, but to nowhere.


	12. Road Runner Aria

"_Curiosity is one of forms of feminine bravery"_

* * *

"_Wisdom cannot be granted, it has to be earned. Sometimes...at a cost."_

Those words echoed through Aria's ears, as she sat besides Cliffjumper's grave. Yeah, she might never met that Autobot personally, but she regarded the deceased one as her teammate too. It was just yesterday after they encountered Airachnid, Arcee was still in sulking moment, which worried Aria more. However, that thing alone made the ponytail pretty curious, just how Cliffjumper was like.

She was there not only to pay Cliffjumper a visit, but also someone else. "Arianna, I was wondering, if you are there with Cliffjumper. Wish I could have the chance to speak with him too, but..." she paused. When she was alone, she would like to pay visit to Arianna as well, whose memorial was embedded inside her body. "You see, my life is...what I can say, getting better, even if we're still in middle of war. Ever since our father came to my life, that is. Well, I'm not saying that everything is completed for me though. Because you know what, you're still irreplaceable for me, sis..." Aria curled her knees up. "If there's anything I wish for a miracle, I want you to be at my side, and we will enjoy this life together, as a family..."

Aria sighed. "Yeah, you'd probably say something like 'I only wish for your happiness'. I just want you to know, that I love you, and I will never forget you. And I'm going to prove, the thing you left for me, I'm not going to let it go to waste," with that, she stood up. "Okay, time for some training!"

* * *

She walked back into the base, when Rafael was sliding and almost bumping to her. Aria swiftly caught the glass boy before he crashed. "Whew, thanks Aria," he thanked her.

"Raf, what the...?" Aria noticed that the boy was wearing inline rollerblades.

"Really a rookie," Miko was also wearing the same thing. "Come on, I'll show you how to skate gracefully like a Flash Man!"

"Miko, I'm just a beginner, see?" Rafael released his grip from Aria, but that was when he finally fell flat on his back. "OW!" Bumblebee rushed to him and asked if he was alright. "No worries there Bee, I just have to stand up and...WHOA!" he tried to stand up, only to slip once again.

"Wow, mind to tell me what are you doing now?" Aria asked.

"We are trying to get used being on the wheels, just like Bulkhead and the others," Miko explained as she skillfully skated closer to Aria.

"In other words, trying to mess your head..." Rafael said as he tried to balance on his rollerblade. "I'm starting to hate this now..."

"Why, it's so much fun! You see, just...ZOOOOMMM!" Miko then demonstrated her ability. "See, what's so difficult about it?!" she questioned as she skidded to stop.

"Miko, you should put the protective gear as well, that's what they write on the box," Bulkhead was holding the helmet, elbows, and knees protector on his palm. "You don't want to get serious injuries when on that thing."

"Ah, no need Bulk! I'm as sturdy as metal skin you see. Now Raf! Catch me if you can!" Miko sped off once again.

Aria was amused as the command center was turned into roller blade ring by the two kids. She noted the time, Arcee and Jack weren't there yet, as Jack was still on his shift on KO Burger. And she immediately spotted Optimus standing on the corner. "Father!" she carefully avoided the two roller kids, and walked to him. "I'm surprised that you allowed them to."

"There is no harm to let them enjoy their youthful time, my dear. How are you today?" the last Prime smiled to his daughter.

"Fine, just fine. Say, where's Ratchet?" Aria asked.

"He has been away since this morning," Optimus replied.

Just then, the medic rushed to the command center. "Finally I got it...WHOA!" he just barely dodged Miko under his feet. "Miko, WATCH WHERE YOU GOING!" Ratchet was utterly annoyed.

"Whoopsy, sorry Ratch!" Miko sheepishly giggled, as she rolled away from the happy-trigger medic.

"Ah whatever, I just let it slide, since you guys just gave me awesome idea for my next project. Aria, thank the Allspark you're here!" for some reason, Ratchet looked so happy.

"Hey Ratch, what's wrong?" Aria asked.

"Yeah, I have something for you..." Ratchet carefully avoided the two rolling kids when made his way to the girl. "Your half-Cybertronian nature is giving you disadvantage at mobility because your alternate mode isn't a vehicle mode. So, I got you something that might help you better with the roll out." He presented the thing he carried on his arm.

"Wow, what's that?" Aria eyed the thing resembling rollerblade in giant size. "Rollerblades?"

"Behold my latest masterpiece, the Super Flash Rocket Foot Wheel!" the medic announced.

"You can just say big metal rollerblades," Bulkhead commented.

"Be quiet, this is nothing like the scraps human makes all these times. This wheels are equipped with rocket boosters that can go up to 90 miles per hour. What's more, specially made for transforming half-Cybertronian."

"WOW!" Aria's eyes were glittering as she heard that she could finally roll out even though she didn't have vehicle mode.

"90 mph?! Guess that! Say Ratch, do you have one for me?!" Miko asked in excitement.

"No," the medic turned her down.

"Ow, sucks..." the girl wallowed.

"So, is it finished yet?!" Aria asked.

"Well, mostly, although I still have to do some more tuning..." Ratchet said.

"Ratchet, every equipment that will be used must be tested for safety," Optimus spoke in. "To make sure that the thing itself does not possess any danger."

"Old friend, you can trust me. You really think I will put a seemingly dangerous equipment into use before passing my testing? On your daughter nonetheless? You can trust my judgement," for some reason, the CMO was rather excited as well.

"So, does it really work?" Aria was curious.

"Actually, I'm not sure yet..." the CMO replied.

"Ratchet..." Optimus felt like slapping himself.

"So Aria, will you help me on testing this new equipment?" Ratchet asked to the girl.

"SURE THING!" the ponytail was more than happy. "Father, can I do it? Pretty please...?"

"Well Aria, as long as you know what you are about to do," although the Prime himself wasn't sure what he let his daughter got into. "Ratchet, I have to ask one more time, is it really safe?"

"About 98%, yeah."

"What about the other two...?" Rafael scratched his head. It was the first time ever the expert medic giving such unclear answer.

"We will find out the other two once we conduct the test. Now Aria, shall we do this?" Ratchet swiped his scanner, and pushed the button on it. He already installed a program on it to transform Aria's Autobot mode remotely.

"HEY!" Aria was annoyed as she was transformed against her will. "I already said, ask my permission before using that thing!"

"Forgive me, I'm just rather...excited..." Ratchet rubbed his head.

"Whatever, I'll let it slide this time. So, what should I do?"

* * *

It didn't take long for Ratchet to install the new device to Aria's legs. Everyone was around to witness the testing. "Okay Aria, try to transform back," Ratchet instructed.

"Okay..." Aria reverted back to human, and much to their delight, the wheels just folded and blended perfectly with her human form. "Wow, sweet!" she was delighted as she was able to bring out the rollerblades from her human legs.

"The transformation ability works just perfect," Ratchet mused.

"So, what I should do now?" Aria asked.

"The wheels will respond to your mind command. Just tell what you need for it to do," the medic replied.

"Okay..." Aria tried, and as she mentally ordered the wheel to go straight, it instantly rolled straight forward. "Wow...!" it also rolled to right and left when she told it to. "So cool...! You're amazing, Ratch!"

"I've proved myself to be expert medical officer for eons!" the medic proudly stuck out his chest. "Just, try it whatever you like."

"Really? Then, how about the rocket booster?" Aria said. When she commanded it, a pair of rocket popped out from her heels, and instantly sent her rocketed away. "WAAAAAAAA!" she screamed loudly as she disappeared instantly, leaving a trail of smokes behind.

"ARIA!" Optimus was shocked nonetheless.

"Maintain control!" Ratchet shouted.

"WOW, it can really zoom as fast as bullet train!" Miko cheered up.

"But, I think this is not good..." Rafael was wary.

"Ratch, do you think she's going to be alright?" Bulkhead asked in concern as the loud scream and wheel screech could still be heard.

"To be honest, I haven't finished working with the rockets yet..." Ratchet replied shortly. "I didn't expect she was going to try it so soon!" he excused once met with Optimus' glare.

"Get her!" Optimus commanded.

* * *

"Phew, that old man really is something..." Jack grunted as his day on his work wasn't going so good, as he was rolling inside the base on top of Arcee. "I mean, I already sacrificed my times for additional shifts, he treated me like a bug in his restaurant. Really...!"

"Bear with it Jack," Arcee advised. "If you don't like it, you can just quit at any time."

"As if I can do it any soon. I don't know why but this day seems to be not the good one..." the boy sighed. "Can this day get any worse?"

"Well..." before Arcee could reply, something was coming into their direction in very high speed. "What the...?"

"MISS ARCEE! JACK! MOVE IT MOVE IT MOVE ITTT!" it was Aria, with Ratchet super speed caliber. She zoomed past Arcee and Jack.

"WHOA!" Jack yelped as Arcee jumped harshly. They both flinched as the girl crashed through the entrance and zoomed outside. "Was that...Aria?"

"Clearly..." Arcee transformed to her bipedal mode. Then, she noticed that Optimus and the others were rushing to their spot. "Guys, care to tell me what's happening?"

* * *

"I should have just ask them to stop me...!" Aria grunted as her face and body were almost pancaked by the crashing through base entrance. If only she wasn't half-metal, she would be squished. "WHAAAA!" but her horror wasn't over yet, as she sped blindly through the open desert. She clearly had no idea that her brand new wheels could work that good on sand as well.

"_Aria, do you copy?_" came the transmission from her father.

"Father..! I can hear you, I think...WHAAAAA!" she screamed again as she was heading straight to big boulder. "GO LEFT! GO LEFT!" she frantically commanded, and thankfully she was able to avoid it. But that thing was so hard to control! She was unable to answer Optimus anymore since she was in very panic mode.

She continued to battle for control as she was racing on the main road, and bumped several gas stations and places. "Ratchet...when I get out of this, I will..." she mentally cursed, as she was coated in oil which she spilled in her mid speedy way. There was this horror as she head straight toward a very big wall rock. She braced herself for it, but the wheel made her sliding on the wall. "Wow, this is like ninja trick...NOT FUNNY!" she thought it was cool, until she realized that she was going rather high. "Not this high! Turn around!" apparently, she was giving the wrong command, as her wheel turned around and eventually sending her rocketing down.

Down on the road, Knock Out was happening to pass by. "Hmm, hmm, what a great day to enjoy a ride all by myself and..." he didn't have a chance to finish, as he was struck by Aria and pushed at great speed to the left side of the road. "What the...?!" he shrieked as it was coming out of the blue.

_CRASSHHH_

Both of the half Autobot and Decepticon crashed into small oasis in middle of desert. "Owww..." Aria grunted in pain as she was flattened against a tree in upside down position. "Thank goodness..." she was relieved as she was finally stop, because her legs and wheel were hanging up.

"WHAT THE SCRAP IS THIS?!" Knock Out was splashed to the muddy swamp, and he was in great mess.

"Knock Out...?" the girl really had no idea that she didn't just run into random car.

"YOU!" Knock Out pointed angrily to the ponytail as he stomped out of the water. "What kind of dirty tricks was this?! Look what you've done to my finish!" he mentioned his body covered in mud.

"Eheheh...forgive me please? It's an accident, really..." Aria giggled sheepishly.

"I will make IT an accident!" the red medic deployed his circular saw and was more than ready for some shop and chop.

"_Aria, confirm your position now!"_ finally she was able to hear Optimus.

"Well, I'm in some kind of oasis, with a narcissist red Decepticon on my face...!" she didn't have chance to finish as Knock Out launched at her. Aria leapt to dodge it, but as she planted her legs back on the ground, the wheels kicked in again and sent her rocketing. "OH SCRAP NOT AGAIN!"

"Don't you try to escape before I finish with your treatment!" Knock Out wasn't about to give up, as he transformed and gave a chase to runaway half Autobot.

"What a mess...! Okay Aria, with a Decepticon behind your back, there's no way you can play around..." she told herself. "Keep calm, okay girl...just keep calm!" and much to her delight, the wheel started to slow down, a bit, but worth it. "Okay Doc Knock, I'm ready for some racing now!" she turned around, and headed straight to the incoming red car. "HIYAH!" with a somersault, she flung a kick at very high speed. Much to her shock, she could kick real hard. She sent the red sport car flying.

"I'M BLASTING OFF!" Knock Out screamed as he disappeared to the sky.

"Show you!" Aria had this big grin, before speeding off again. "Woohooo! This is pretty fun, indeed! I have to show father!"

* * *

"Ratchet, where is she?" Optimus was speeding on the dirt road with Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee. The problem medic was staying behind to monitor the signal.

"_Hardly to be seen, she's moving too fast_!"

"Can I remind you that you were the one who made those wheel things?!" Arcee was rather annoyed.

"It's pretty rare for that docbot to make such error thingy, you know," Bulkhead commented. "He must be catching up with age."

"_You want to call me old?!"_ apparently, the medic could hear it. "_Okay, I admit I made a mistake, but that's because I still don't grasp half-Cybertronian anatomy fully! Once we get her back, I'll start to re-learn the mechanism of the wheel_."

"If we catch her, that's it," Arcee muttered.

Optimus felt like that was going to be his first time giving his medic - who was also his old friend - very nice long lecture. About endangering his daughter, that was. Nonetheless, he perfectly knew how his old friend could act when he was doing some kind of 'popped-out-optics-fabulous-project'. Then, he spotted something was moving real fast on the sand, leaving a trail of sand behind.

"WOOHOOO! Father!" it was his daughter, speeding all around them before zooming straight again.

"ARIA! Come back here in instant!" Optimus transformed and yelled out worriedly.

"Why?! It's so much fun!" Aria started to make strange marks on the sand using her wheel. "Anyone there want to race with me? Bulk, Miss Arcee, Bee?!"

_You can't beat the one with four wheel!_ Bumblebee was rather excited, he transformed again to car and sped off to the girl.

"Then come on! Straight to the end of the cliff!" Aria cheered up, as both younglings started the race on the desert.

Optimus vented in frustration. "Primus help me..." somehow, he almost forgot, however strong and smart his second daughter was, Aria was still...pretty young and therefore...naughty.

"Well...what can we say?" Arcee commented. "It seems like everything is alright now...so far, yeah..." she couldn't help but being worried still.

"Haha, she's on her first 'roll out' alright," Bulkhead laughed a bit. "Seems like our medic is the best after all..."

"_Of course I am!"_ Ratchet replied with very high voice.

"Heh..." Arcee giggled. Thanks to their enhanced vision, they could see Aria and Bumblebee speeding few miles ahead. Then, something worried her again. "They're rather...fast, you know."

"What can I say, we all love speed!" Bulkhead amused.

"That is the sign of what we less wanted..." Optimus commented. "Aria! You have to slow down a bit!"

Aria did know she had to, but something was not right. Even Bumblebee was concerned and warned her not to push it. "FATHER! BEE!" she frantically called. "RATCH! HOW DO I STOP?!"

"_You still can't do it, I haven't upgraded the brake to stop at very high speed...I didn't tell you to go to that fast already!_" that statement alone made everyone's jaw hanging open.

Optimus knew it, he had to do something about his medic officer. And, he transformed again to truck to pursue his daughter. "Hold on tight, my dear! I'm coming!"

"And I'm going...hahaha..." Aria could still crack her joke. That was until she came into the cliff's end, and she had her spark sank as she saw what was below the cliff. "AAAAAAA! FATHER HELP ME!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, as the ponytail tried everything to stop the unstoppable wheels. But it was too late.

_CRASSHHH...SREK SREK SREK_

They all could hear it from the open comm link, followed by louder and pained scream by the half-Autobot. "ARIA?! Are you alright?!" Optimus was almost there.

"_No kidding father...! Hurry up and pull me out of here!_"

All the remaining Autobots looked down the cliff, and all of them especially Optimus, flinched to what they saw the girl was stuck into. She fell on top of bunches of _something green and thorny_, it was pretty painful to look at.

"For a while, I swear I will not give a scrap to rollerblade, or wheel, or...cactus...!" the girl groaned in annoyance and pain as she was stuck onto the thorns of Green People of Desert. "See if Ratchet would like a cactus as a souvenir. It will be nice if I can just smack one to his...metallic head!"


	13. TMI

"_So long as the memory of certain beloved one lives in my heart, I shall say that live is good"_

* * *

It was rather a loud day inside the base. If it was loud, that it would usually involve Bulkhead, Miko, and the monster truck rally on TV. Surprisingly, Aria also took interest in the all-wrecking TV show.

"HOOYAAH!" Miko cheered when the monster truck made its move.

"Ooooh...!" Bulkhead moaned in pain, when he witnessed the junk cars being crushed. Well, he and the other Autobots were cars too, so they just knew how it may feel like.

"Wow, that's pretty awesome!" Aria cheered.

"_Give it up for the baddest beast machines on the planet!_" the TV boomed over.

"Would you mind lowering the volume?" Ratchet requested. He couldn't concentrate with such loud sound.

"Hey, Ratch! Check out the Monster Truck Rally Bulkhead and Miko took me to last week!" Aria suggested.

"Totally crushed out!" Bulkhead added.

"I compiled some highlights on my cell phone," Miko held her phone high.

"Innocent vehicles battling it out for the pleasure of human spectators? Blood sport!" Ratchet visibly shuddered before walking back to his computers. "Aria, I do not believe that you are into such thing!"

"Why not?!" Aria glanced to Miko and Bulkhead with a wink.

"YEAH!" Bulkhead and Miko exclaimed excitedly.

"You could be helping Optimus in the field right now," Ratchet remarked.

"Father's with Miss Arcee and Bee. I think he will handle it just fine," Aria replied.

"The girl's right, he doesn't need our help to save some ancient educational...thingamabob," Bulkhead scoffed.

"The 'thingamabob', to which you refer, is a Cybertronian data cylinder," Ratchet corrected.

Ratchet pressed a button to change the television program to some images of the cylinders. Aria, Bulkhead, and Miko groaned in disappointment when their show was being interrupted.

"And there is no telling what vast intelligence it may hold. During the Golden Age, dozens of these cylinders were created. Each containing the sum total of Cybertronian knowledge on any given subject. Stellar cartography, medicine, ancient mythology. When the war broke out, the cylinders were hidden throughout the galaxies to keep them as far as possible from Decepticon reach. Detecting one signal _here_, on Earth, is the opportunity of..."

"Augh! T.M.I, dude!" Miko groaned.

"Haha, that wouldn't be the first time..." Aria laughed.

"Switch it back! I wanna see the Hoedown Showdown!" Bulkhead demanded.

"_Ratchet! Decepticon ambush! The cylinder is at risk! We require backup!_" Optimus called in.

"There's the duty call, Bulk!" Aria said as she stood up from the couch.

"Backup is what I'm built for," Bulkhead smirked as he stood and pounded his two fists together.

"Go kick some fenders, guys!" Miko cheered as Aria and Bulkhead ran through the GroundBridge.

"I have an important mission for you too, Miko," Ratchet smirked at Miko.

"Really?" Miko was excited, until Ratchet handed her a mop, "Awww…"

But as usual, Ratchet paid a little attention. So, Miko took the distraction to drop the mop, and ran through the GroundBridge. Who wanted to miss a freakingly awesome bot fighting?

As Miko exited the GroundBridge, she arrived at the mountain side where a hot fight ensued between Autobots and Decepticons. Optimus was brawling with Knock Out, Breakdown with Aria and Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee deal with the Vehicons. Bulkhead punched one Con, and the said Con tumbled backward into Miko. Thankfully, Miko jumped to dodge it, and shielded behind rock.

It was rather a big mistake for Knock Out to try facing Optimus all by himself. Because of course, he was no match for the mighty Prime. Optimus easily tossed the red medic away.

"Autobots, stand your ground! The artifact must not fall into enemy hands!" Optimus declared as he went off to fight another Decepticon drone.

"Miss Arcee, go! I'll handle him!" Aria urged Arcee to go, when the sea-green femme was busy punching Breakdown.

"Be careful!" Arcee nodded, as she left Aria and Breakdown, and made a mad dash for the cylinder. But, Knock Out charged and tackled her away.

"Come to papa!" Knock Out smirked as he transformed and ran towards it.

"Not so fast, papa!" Aria already tossed Breakdown aside, and she launched between the cylinder and Knock Out. _Now, why it just felt so wrong...?_

"Run to mummy!" Bulkhead tossed Knock Out aside…only to be attacked from behind by Breakdown.

"Say uncle! SAY IT!" Breakdown attacked Bulkhead and Aria from behind, and lifted them by heads.

Miko took her chance to run to the cylinder. She immediately picked up her phone and contacted the base.

"Ratchet, come in!" Miko begged.

"Miko?" Ratchet replied in surprise, "This is an emergency channel! We need to keep it open for the oth-! Wait! Where are you?"

"Doy! I'm with the thingamabob!" Miko answered in frustration.

"The thingama…," Ratchet trailed off as he realized what she was talking about, "The data cylinder!"

"Yes! Can you bridge it out of here?" Miko asked.

"_I'll reactivate arrival coordinates!_"

Immediately, the portal opened. However, it was very far, and Miko was unable to bring the big and heavy cylinder all by herself.

"Dude! Can you open it any closer?" Miko whined.

"_Supply coordinates._"

"Uh…50 yards?" Miko guessed.

"_PRECISE COORDINATES!_"

Miko knew she was getting nowhere with it. So, she tried to push the cylinder to the bridge, but it wouldn't move. Miko decided to try another trick. She ran backward few feet, then dashed and kicked the cylinder. It still refused to move, but something else happened. The cylinder vibrated, made strange sound, and the head popped out. Eventually, the sound attracted all the Autobots.

"Miko...?" Bulkhead gasped in surprise to see his charge was there.

Suddenly, the cylinder began to shake strangely. Fearing for Miko's safety, Bulkhead made a mad dash to the girl, but he was held back by a Vehicon.

"I got it!" Aria decided to launch forward, but Knock Out tackled her.

As the result, Aria fell flat just in front of the cylinder. Suddenly, a red beam ejected from the cylinder's head to Aria's forehead. Aria widened her eyes when something just entered her brain. After that, she promptly passed out.

"ARIA!" Miko ran to Aria's side.

"You really took one for the team, Bulkhead. My team," Knock Out remarked as he grabbed the cylinder, and the Decepticons retreated back.

"ARIA, are you...?" Optimus dashed forward and lifted his daughter.

"Ugh...fine..." Aria regained her consciousness, and she supported herself with Optimus' arm. She felt ridiculously dizzy however.

* * *

Per instruction of Optimus, Aria was taken back to base together with Miko, to be checked over by Ratchet. But Aria was proven to be a tough patient, considering just how young she was.

"I helped to lose the thing! I should get back in the field and help my father!" Aria protested when she got up from the medical berth.

"Ah ah! You're under my watch now. Your father's orders. I think running a scan on your neuro net will be a wiser use of your time..." Ratchet argued.

"I feel fine, there's nothing to scan," Aria stated as she ripped the cable off her body.

"She seems fine to me," Miko agreed.

Ratchet sighed before finally saying, "Well, if you insist on making yourself useful, you can help Miko tidy up." With that, he handed a mop to Aria's Autobot hand.

"He's mad with power!" Miko groaned.

"That's Ratchet. Null vector squared alright," Aria remarked.

"What?" Miko asked in confusion.

"Hey, we got any paint around here?" Aria asked when she swirled the mop on her metallic hand.

"Art project? Sweet!" Miko cheered.

* * *

"What do you mean its empty?" Megatron demanded in anger.

"Lord Megatron, these cylinders are not unlike batteries. The data stored within them has a form of energy. It's scanned fully charged. That's how we located it to begin with. But now…," Knock Out activated the cylinder, but it just produced smoke.

"Dead battery," Breakdown surmised.

"Did you drop it, you one-eyed oaf?" Megatron pointed to Breakdown.

"No, sir! I wasn't going to touch it after it put the zap on Aria, that half fleshing!" Breakdown defended.

"Hey, you think…," Knock Out gave the hint.

"I know. And I must find out what that vessel contained. When it comes to the Secrets of the Ancients, knowledge can be power," Megatron remarked. "And not to mention, Aria? Why, it will be rather interesting..."

* * *

"Seriously, Ratch! You need to see what Aria's painting in here!" Miko urged the Autobot medic.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure one hasn't truly lived until one has beheld Aria's take on Abstract Style of Life," Ratchet remarked, if only he remembered if he talked about Optimus' daughter. But as they approached Aria's work area, they stumbled upon various glyphs painted on the wall.

"The differential of 1/3 cubed is RDRR," Aria muttered as she painted the Cybertronian symbols.

"That is not art. It's science," Ratchet corrected in amazement.

Immediately, Aria was back in med bay and Ratchet finally performed the full scan on Aria's neuro mass. And the result, was baffling.

"This hot spot you see here is information. Data, living energy," Ratchet explained to the other Autobots.

"Hold up!" Miko cries, "It's alive, it's on fire, and it's in Aria's brain?"

"Chill, Miko. The data is only inhabiting a fraction of my brain. Infiltasminizsble by standard neuro net densities. Wait. How do I know all that? Ratchet hadn't told me the slightest of that..." Aria remarked.

"Based on what we witnessed during our skirmish, the living data must have been programmed to eject when it sensed unauthorized access," Optimus summed up.

"A security measure," Ratchet added.

"It would have jettisoned heavenward. Lost to the stars," Optimus sighed.

"Then it just happened that my superior brain got in the way and save the day," Aria remarked as she tapped her head.

"Every 'Con there made a grab for it. But the cylinder doesn't go off until Miko touches it?" Arcee asked.

"The cylinder originated from Cybertron's Golden Age. Predating the Autobot/Decepticon division," Ratchet answered.

"So it wouldn't consider any native of Cybertron to be a threat," Optimus surmised.

"Only alien life forms such as humans," Ratchet referred to Miko's kick, earning some bleeps from Bumblebee.

"Are we staring at genius or gibberish?" Arcee pointed to the symbols Aria had been painting all over the base's walls.

"I do not wish to falsely rally anyone's hopes. But these equations appear to be the formula for a synthetic Energon," Ratchet declared, earning cheers from Bumblebee.

"Synthetic Energon?! Cool!" Aria cheered.

"We hit the mother lode?" Arcee added.

"Miko, do you understand what this means?" Bulkhead asked Miko happily, "Energon provides our fuel, our ammo, our life force! With the natural stuff in such short supply here on Earth, this could solve a whole lot of problems!"

"Such as providing us with the edge we need to turn the tide of this war," Optimus said.

"Or handing us the key to revitalizing Cybertron," Ratchet piped in.

"We got the goods and all Megatron got was an empty bucket," Arcee piped.

"Haha, how often I use my head to save the day?" Aria said in excitement.

"You did a good job, girl!" Bulkhead praised.

Pretty soon, Aria was back on her job painting out the formula on metal sheets provided by Ratchet. The metal board would be replaced by the empty one as soon as it completed, and being handed to Ratchet. Optimus was supervising Ratchet as the medic loaded the completed formula, and scanned Aria's neural at the same time.

If he had to be honest, Optimus was worried, beyond worried. If it came to his daughter, he always worried.

"Aren't you done yet?!" Miko whined in boredom.

"Gotta admit, it's weird seeing Aria in brainiac mode. I mean, she's always in warrior mode," Arcee said. She and Bumblebee then took the completed board to replace it with the new one.

"Break time! Come on big girl!" Miko cheered. "How about a lightning round of TNT Street Racer Seven?"

"Aren't your joints rather cramped? You're in that position for almost an hour. How about a spar? Or a ride? Or jogging?" Bulkhead offered.

But Aria just ignored them as she continued to paint on the empty board. Miko and Bulkhead exchanged unhappy look to each other.

"What's wrong with her?!" Miko asked to Bulkhead.

"Dunno. Hey boss bot," Bulkhead called to Optimus. "Tell your girl to take a break, will you? I mean, something is just...not right."

Optimus nodded, he too noticed for some reason, Aria was too locked on the job. That thing alone worried the Prime. Optimus did agree on telling Aria to take a break. So he walked to Aria's spot, but Aria just didn't pay him attention and keep writing.

"My sweetspark, there is no harm for you to take a break," Optimus spoke, but getting no reply. So he tried to get Aria's attention by tapping Aria's shoulder lightly.

"...What is it, father?" Aria asked as she tilted her head a bit.

"Aria, you need to stop for a while," Optimus said again. "It is unwise to overwork yourself."

"He's right, Aria. I don't want you become a nerd," Arcee joined.

"I'm fine..." Aria merely said. "But, why did you call me that?"

"What?" Arcee gaped, she and Optimus exchanged confused look.

"My name is Arianna..." Aria merly said before turning back writing.

Optimus finally widened his eyes in horror and his spark skipped a beat. Not only that Aria was strangely obsessed in writing the formula, but she also forgot her own name? Then, Ratchet called all the Autobots to his monitor.

"I could provide answer for that. This is Aria's neural net as you saw it earlier. This scan was recorded just minutes ago. It is as a fear. The data seems to be actively and aggressively rewriting Aria's neural net. I had hoped she was purging the data. But he merely seems to be transcribing it as it..." Ratchet trailed off.

"Consumes her mind," Optimus finished, horror was presented on his tone. It was one of the worst case scenario he had to face.

"So, what does it mean? The data consumes her mind, then what?" Bulkhead demanded.

"From all indications, by the time Aria completes the formula, her own thoughts, her memories...could be wiped clean," Ratchet announced.

"What...?" Bulkhead and Bumblebee exchanged horror looks.

"But if we stop her, goodbye Synthetic Energon," Arcee sighed. "But, how is it that Aria doesn't remember her own name, yet she perfectly remembered Optimus? She still called him 'father'."

"She said her name is Arianna," Bulkhead added in disbelief.

"It seemed that what she recalled wasn't her own memory. It was Arianna's memory, which was transferred to her. It is the only memory that the data could not overwrite," Ratchet said.

"Why?" Arcee asked.

"Because Arianna's memory was not presented in Aria's neural net. You could say, that Arianna just...transferred it to Aria directly..." Ratchet trailed off.

"Magically, you mean?" Arcee finished. "So chances are, she can still remember, at least us?"

"But not the kids, her best friends!" Bulkhead objected. "I don't think Miko and the others will be happy if Aria just...forgets them, you know..."

"You two assume we possess a means of stopping her," Ratchet said, "I don't exactly have instant access to the Wisdom of the Ancients."

"I will not allow another one of our own to be sacrificed. Aria is the last of my daughters and family...I could not afford losing her," Optimus said firmly, "No matter the cost."

"If the data had transmitted itself from the cylinder, perhaps we can somehow coax it back inside," Ratchet pondered aloud

"But how are we supposed to get it back from the Decepticons?" Arcee asked.

The Autobots decided to throw an invitation card.

* * *

Aria couldn't stop, she just couldn't. Her body and mind just obeyed to what the data said to her. Oblivious to her, she started to lose her own mind and thought. Nothing more, except, painting more and more formula. Miko already had it enough.

"Why, for some reason, you're just like Raf!" Miko yelled out loud.

"Who...?" Aria asked.

That was when Miko finally realized something was wrong, very wrong. She approached Ratchet for confirmation.

"Ratch! Aria was losing her mind!" Miko said, but then she realized, "You...already know?"

"Miko, we didn't want to frighten you. But rest assure, Optimus had a plan," Ratchet reassured. "You know, Aria is his daughter. Optimus certainly would not fail in saving Aria's mind."

"Optimus may be Aria's father, but he's not Aria's doctor. I just need to know, when Aria's done spitting that formula, she'll go back to being regular old Aria, right...?"

Ratchet stayed silent. There was no way Aria would be back to her normal self after she was done with the formula. There would be nothing left, except for Arianna's memory. Aria would be thinking that she was Arianna, not Aria. And Aria herself, would be gone forever.

* * *

"Lord Megatron, we've detected a familiar Energon profile," Knock Out reported.

"The data?" Megatron immediately guessed.

"Aria must have left the shielded radius of their base," Knock Out guessed, "Breakdown and I will..."

"Fail me again?" Megatron finished. "This is Aria we are talking about. I will go to retrieve the data, as well as the daughter of Optimus."

* * *

That being said, Megatron headed for the field with his troops of Vehicons. But when he arrived there, it wasn't what he expected before. Optimus and his Autobots troops were standing there.

"Optimus, you are certainly not the Autobot I expected to see here. But let me guess, you rigged a transponder to mimic the frequency of the data I seek," Megatron remarked.

"Megatron, I have a proposal that could benefit both sides," Optimus offered as he stepped forward.

"I'm listening..." Megatron said as he prevented his troops from firing.

"Surrender the data cylinder, and I will return it back to you, fully restored," Optimus explained.

"This trinket right here?" Megatron held up the data cylinder, " And pray tell, what trifles did it contain that you are so anxious to give away? Or rather, give from?"

Optimus had the hence that Megatron knew the data was inside Aria's head. But for that reason alone Optimus was there. He would save his daughter, it was a pledge he couldn't afford to fail.

"Accept the terms and conditions regarding this negotiation, and you will find out," Optimus added. He really hoped Megatron would agree.

* * *

"Do you remember tearing out Airachnid together with Arcee?" Miko tried to coax Aria's memory out.

"Miss Arcee...?" Aria mumbled.

"Yeah! Your coach and best friend...second to me, of course," Miko prayed that Arcee wouldn't happen to hear that. "Do you even remember who I am?"

"I had never met with Miss Arcee directly. Equivilant to the flattening of the outlets void to the tenth power," Aria completely ignored Miko, and got back to writing.

_Father, where are you going?_

"...And with the multiplying numbers of the quantum effect..."

_Arianna, I am so sorry. But I will end this war once and for all..._

The data wasn't the only one rewriting Aria's mind. Arianna's memory was currently trying to battle it, for domination over Aria's mind.

"Keep them coming, Aria..." Ratchet said as he loaded one more of the formula.

"Ratch! What do you mean by...?!" Miko snapped. "She...she can't do this anymore! Writing out the formula when forgetting the rest of us at the same time?! Okay, maybe she still remembers you guys, but how about me?! What's more, her own self?!"

"Miko, believe me, I do not want this to happen," Ratchet said sadly. "But currently, there is nothing that we can do to prevent it."

Miko really hated to hear such words. She decided that enough was enough. Aria was her best friend, second after Bulkhead of course. Miko wasn't going to let her lost forever. So, when Ratchet wasn't paying attention, Miko activated the GroundBridge to certain coordinate. Then, she stole Aria's mop and guided the sea green femme to the portal.

"Come on, you want to finish your project don't you?"

* * *

"Do you accept the proposal, Megatron?" Optimus asked.

"_Lord Megatron,_"

"Give me a moment," Megatron requested before walking back.

"_Did you find what you were looking for?_"

"It's…complicated," Megatron answered.

"_Well, Breakdown and Knock Out may have located the girl. Fully charged._"

"Proceed," Megatron confirmed.

"_Just one hitch. We don't have the cylinder._"

"Then bring me the data as well as the current vessel, the girl herself," Megatron immediately instructed. Well, usually he wouldn't bring the whole instrument, only the necessary part. However, this was Optimus' daughter, and Megatron wouldn't want to waste the chance.

* * *

Miko brought Aria to Monster Truck Rally track.

"Look! You love monster trucks! Well, maybe not that much. Remember when we snuck in here after the show last week? You even tried on performing the tricks with your rollerblades!" Miko asked.

"Mass times the fusion rate squared is constant," was the only reply of Aria who continued to write the formula on the wall.

"Is any of this ringing a bell?" Miko sighed.

"Bell curve? No, no, no. That wouldn't factor in," Aria shook his head.

"How about our Sunday morning dune bashings? Rocking out to Slash Monkey with Bulkhead? Go shopping for discount? Having a chocolate brownies in cafe? Helping me with my homework? Ha! Trick question! You know I don't do homework…don't you?" still no response, and Miko started to get really worried, "OK. Forget the past! Starting now, we can make new memories."

Aria didn't pay her any attention. Miko realized that all hope was lost.

"You know Aria, I'm all grateful that you're my friend. I mean, I have so little of girl friends, and so little of them is as good as you. Bulkhead is my best bud... you are...my best friend..." Miko sobbed as she leant to Aria's big foot. "Aria, I know somewhere inside you, you'll always remember me. No matter if you turn into your sister, who is already with the stars. And I just want you to know, I'll never forget you..."

"Boo hoo! I'm shedding lubricant!"

Much to Miko's horror, Breakdown and Knock Out were there.

"Follow me right now or these guys will…STEAL THE FORMULA!" Miko cried.

"My equations!" Aria gasped out.

"Come on! Come on!" Miko said.

Miko led Aria to the deeper area of the arena.

"A daughter of Optimus Prime will run from fight?" Breakdown asked in confusion.

"I'm afraid our girl friend has had a little too much to think," Knock Out sighed, "Lord Megatron, _we are good._"

* * *

"Optimus, upon careful consideration, if you want the cylinder, you have to take it," Megatron said, as his troops moved out to attack.

"I knew it!" Bulkhead screeched.

And Optimus wasted no time in terminating all of them. By all means, he had to take the cylinder, so he could get the data out of Aria's head.

* * *

Aria and Miko found a hiding place in the Monster Truck parking. Miko managed to get Aria shrunk back to her human mode, and stuffed her inside one truck. And Miko herself was outside, acting as watch guard.

"Finding game," Knock Out said, he and Breakdown began to search through the place for the missing girls.

"The 'Cons are scrambling the signal!" Miko hissed in frustration as she tried her phone to contact base, but only got static.

"But the trisector of the polygon is an integral subset..."

"Quiet! And whatever you do, don't make any sound or anything," Miko instructed as she backed away the car with Aria inside, "I'm gonna see if I can get far enough to call for backup."

Miko had to sneak her way from beneath the cars, so she wouldn't be found by the Cons. Meanwhile, Breakdown tried to find the girl by bashing one by one the cars.

"Be careful, Breakdown. Megatron wants her in perfect shape," Knock Out warned. "And games are only fun to play when you're winning."

Knock Out referred to the sea-green femme who was painting the formula on cars. She apparently more focused on writing than hiding.

"I TOLD you not to get out!" Miko gasped in horror when she saw the same scene. She snuck her way back to the girl.

"Hello there, Aria," Knock Out and Breakdown approached Aria with murderous intention.

Aria realized that the car she painted didn't have much room to paint for. So, she immediately seek for another, nearest object to paint. And the nearest object happened to be Knock Out. She splashed the paint right on Knock Out's chest.

"You...painted my paint job! Prepare for surgery!" Knock Out roared.

"Wait, you said we have to get her intact!" Breakdown prevented his partner. "How if we do it this way?"

Breakdown stepped forward and hauled Aria to his shoulder. And Aria just showed no resistance at all. Miko saw in horror, her friend was about to be abducted. Like hell she would let that happen. Miko climbed onto one truck's roof, and aligned herself with Breakdown.

* * *

It wasn't very hard task for the Autobots to terminate the Vehicons. In no time , all the Vehicons dropped death.

"In that case, NO ONE GETS IT!" Megatron crushed the cylinder and dropped it on the ground. "But I will get the winning prize. In form of Aria, that is." Megatron transformed and rocketed away.

Optimus widened her eyes in horror, the cylinder was damaged beyond repair. Not to mention, Megatron already knew that Aria was holding the data, meaning he would get her now. Optimus was in dilemma, how would they coax out the data from Aria's mind, without the cylinder?

"_Optimus! Aria and Miko had abandoned base! I have their GroundBridge coordinate!" _ Ratchet commed them.

"What...?" Optimus gasped. "Ratchet! Prepare the GroundBridge to teleport us to their location!"

"Miko...? What've you done now?" Bulkhead said in disbelief. When he loved Miko so much, sometimes her antics just went bit too far.

"Lord Megatron, the package is secured...WHOA!" Breakdown reported when Miko jumped on his back.

Miko launched herself and gripped onto Breakdown's back. Breakdown shook himself side to side, making Miko lost her grip and fell onto Aria's head. Because of that, Aria's eyes were snapping open, and they were glowing in red. And there was this familiar sound.

"Not again!" Breakdown cried as he realized what happened. He dropped the girl back to the ground in instant, and the second later red beam ejected out of Aria's eyes. "GET DOWN!"

"I did it again?!" Miko gasped.

The data ejected itself from Aria's head and to the night stars. Knock Out checked over the unconscious Aria, and very disappointed.

"Dead battery," Knock Out confirmed. "Megatron will peel our paint for losing that data."

"So we're gonna bring you as the replacement," Breakdown said. Well, Megatron would surely be pleased if they brought the daughter of Optimus.

Breakdown hauled Aria back to his shoulder again. But before they could retrea t, the Autobots already arrived. Optimus saw his beloved daughter was in Breakdown's shoulder, and he made a father mad dash. Optimus transformed to speed on, transformed again and smashed Breakdown right on the face. The red Prime caught the unconscious Aria and brought her close to his arms.

"Or...peel our way outta here..." Knock Out and Breakdown shuddered when met with Optimus' death glare. They immediately made their escape. Being blasted by Prime or Megatron, either wasn't the best choice.

When the Decepticons were out of sight, Optimus checked over Aria. Much to his horror, she wasn't responding, and so still. "Ratchet! Open the GroundBridge!"

* * *

Aria was lying on metal berth, and connected to machines. Ratchet's examination proved that Aria was still alive, but she was in comatose condition. It was as worse as having her die.

"The data had been fully expelled, but Aria remains completely unresponsive," Ratchet sadly informed all of them.

"Because the energy took Aria's mind with it. Heavenward. Lost to the stars," Miko began to cry hopelessly, "It's my fault you'll never know the rest of the formula. And it's my fault Aria's gone forever."

"Miko, your quick thinking prevented the formula from falling into Decepticon hands," Optimus reassured her.

"But we lost her! And if you want to blast me, go ahead..." Miko sobbed. "You lost your daughter because of me! It's all my fault!"

"Miko, don't say something like that..." Bulkhead cut in.

"It's simply too early to know the full extent of her condition. Something as simple as a familiar sight or smell; perhaps even a sound could trigger Aria's awakening," Ratchet told Miko.

"The guitar, Miko! She loves music!" Bulkhead proposed an idea.

"She does, but not the heavy metal," Miko objected. "But, there's one thing worth to try..."

With Bulkhead's help, Miko got onto the berth. Miko stood beside Aria's head, took a deep breath, and screamed with all her might.

"ARIA! WAKE UP! IT'S ALREADY 10 O'CLOCK!"

Suddenly, and much to everyone's delight, Aria groaned and opened her eyes.

"WHAT?! 10 o'clock already?! Ratchet why didn't you wake me up...?!" Aria blabbered once she sat straight up, much to everyone's surprise. Rather weird wake up call it was. "Father...?" Aria called as she met upon Optimus' eyes. "...Miko?"

It was a relief for everybody. Aria was back to her normal self. Both of her physic, and mind.


	14. Stronger, Faster, Shocking Revelation

"_Power is the great aphrodisiac"_

* * *

"How are the molecules?" Aria was helping Ratchet with his latest project.

"Hmm..." the medic was peeking over his microscope. "Surprisingly stable."

"Aria, Ratchet, is that synthetic energon?" Rafael was there.

"Well yeah, in fact I'm preparing to test the sample," Ratchet hooked one of his test tubes on the tool. "I assure that you come with protective googles."

"I can watch?!" Rafael happily asked.

"We just add some to the test agent," Ratchet injected the green liquid to a machine. After some moments, the machine kicked in and ran smoothly.

"Perfect," Aria seemed satisfied.

"It works! Bee!" the glasses boy called his guardian.

"Not yet, this formula requires further trial before we can even think of using it as fuel, ammunition, or first aid. Which is rather unfortunate since our own energon reserve are one at the time low. Our severely outnumbered warriors had been burning through our stockpile, as the Decepticon continues to grind us down. Natural energon are such short supply on your planet. And Megatron seems to have his claw on all the Earth's deposit..." the medic reflected. "But, if we can successfully produce the synthetic form, we can manufacture all energy we need."

Their conversation was cut short as their alarm sounded.

"More energon on the move," Arcee confirmed.

"Again?" Bulkhead asked.

"The recent activity suggest a familiar pattern. The Decepticons are desperately scouting for new deposit to mine," Optimus said. "Autobots...!"

"Optimus," his medic cut in. "If one of you comes back wounded this time...our energon reserves are nearly depleted..."

"Understood," Optimus nodded.

"As if you have to worry about that, white energon is on standby 24/7," Aria pointed to herself.

"Aria, despite your body recreated its own energon supply, your white energon is not unlimited," Ratchet warned her. "I do not wish to see you with energon deprivation again."

"Activate the GroundBridge. Autobots! Roll out!" finally the leader announced.

"Hell yeah!" Aria was pumped, and she popped out her rollerblade which Ratchet had completed few days ago. "See you Raf!" she rolled with the others to the GroundBridge.

As the team departed, Ratchet gave a long sigh. "Sometimes, I wish I can do more..." he commented to himself. Then, he got the idea to try the synthetic energon on himself. After he injected it to his body, seconds later he fell and passed out.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Autobots were in hot pursuit with Breakdown and Knock Out in icy canyon. The energon cube was carried by Breakdown himself.

"Knock Out, can't we just bridge outta here?!" the blue truck was frustrated. "This cube is putting some serious drag on me!"

"The more we get the Autobots a work out, the more fuel they burn. And WE win the energon race!" Knock Out replied.

"Why I felt like they just want us to chase them around...?" Aria commented as she was speeding on her wheel, still in human form, and she could guess what the Decepticons were up to.

"What do you mean, girl?" Arcee asked.

"It's old criminal trick Miss Arcee," because the ponytail was once working with criminals, she could know what criminal might think.

"I see, so, do you have any plan for this?" the blue motorcycle asked.

"Just one, get them," Aria said before she proceeded to climb and sped on the canyon wall with her wheel. "Two-wheeler, is what I am," she grinned. With that trick, she was able to almost catch up with the fleeing Decepticon.

"Aria, do not engage carelessly!" Optimus warned his daughter.

"I know, father!" the girl knew very well that she had to get the cube at any cost. While she didn't need energon as much as normal Cybertronian, her family needed it.

"KNOCK OUT! That crazy half-fleshling is on my tailpipe!" Breakdown was panicking as he saw Aria was about to pounce on him from above.

"Relax, here comes the air support," his partner referred to flying units of Vehicons, they fired multiple missiles to the Autobots, which they barely dodged.

"WOW!" Aria was pretty startled as fiery missile came after her. She jumped off the wall just when a missile exploded behind her. In a second, the girl transformed to Autobot as she fell down, and she barely rolled down before the rocks fell before her. "Ow..." she grunted in pain, just as a motorcycle raced past her. "Miss Arcee?!"

The rest of the team transformed as they hit the blockage. "Aria, are you alright?" Optimus immediately inspected Aria. "You are injured, Ratchet...!"

"No, it's okay father," Aria prevented him to, as she stood up. "Just some minor scratches, I'm in perfect shape. You'd better mind that thing..." she pointed to the flying Decepticons rushed past them. "Miss Arcee is on the other side..."

"Arcee, fall back!" Optimus commed the motorcycle. "You are vastly outnumbered!"

"We're always outnumbered. We need that energon," Arcee ignored her superior and continued to pursue Breakdown and Knock Out.

"Ratchet, lock into Arcee's coordinate and prepare emergency GroundBridge!" finally the red truck contacted the base.

"_Unlock on! Arcee, decelerate and prepare to return to base!"_ Ratchet commanded.

"Save it Ratchet, I'm too close!" it was bad choice after all, one missile from Vehicons finally managed to strike Arcee and send her rolling. In very short time, she was surrounded by Vehicons troop.

Ratchet appeared just in time from the GroundBridge to save her.

* * *

When Optimus and the others climbed over the rock pile, Ratchet already got the job done as he stood on top of piling Vehicons.

"Hoaahh...!" the warrior medic finished with an awesome move.

"Wow..." Aria, as well as the others, were dumbfound and amazed.

"Arcee, what I told you about engaging the enemy on your own?" time for some lecture from Optimus to his second in command.

"I'm sorry Optimus, it's just that..." Arcee hung her head low.

"Save it father," Aria deployed her syringe and healed the older femme's legs. "Now, how do you feel?"

* * *

"What happened?" Rafael asked as they returned to base.

"We missed the glory aftermath, but I heard the doc was one-bot wrecking machine," Bulkhead answered.

Then, the medic suddenly picked up the glasses boy. "Hey little fella," he greeted before putting the boy down again.

"Alright...what's your secret?" Arcee was getting curious.

"No secret, just something that I'd like to call...Synth-En," Ratchet took one test tube and threw it to Arcee.

"From the data Aria transcribed?" Arcee asked as she examined the thing. "I thought the formula was..."

"Incomplete? Not anymore," the medic replied.

"So, Ratchet did the tough guy when Aria was the smart girl?" Bulkhead asked as he handed the tube to Optimus.

"You can say that. But Ratch, I thought this thing still requires further testing...on machine not living bot, especially yourself?" Aria questioned.

"Ratchet, I question your wisdom from using yourself as test subject?" Optimus also asked the same thing.

"Optimus, you didn't see Ratchet out there. He was in overdrive! We all should try this stuff!" the blue femme was rather excited for the topic.

"I agree that the initial result was promising. But I recommend further testing be confined to only machines, not Autobots," the Prime argued. "Outnumbered we may be, old friend. We need a warrior on laboratory right now, more than we need another in the field."

"I think you should consider that, Ratch," Aria said. "You said earlier that this stuff still requires further testing, and there's no telling if it carries a side effect on long-term use. We still have more to go."

* * *

The next day, Aria was conducting her own study on the Synth-En. "Hmmm..." she murmured as she peeked over the microscope. She compared the green sample with normal energon.

"Aria," Optimus approached his daughter.

"Oh father," the girl turned her attention from the subject. "I'm doing further examination to this formula, see?"

"How's it going, Aria?" Arcee and Bumblebee came by. "Find anything fishy under that scope?"

"Hard to say, my skill in laboratory is still far from perfect..." Aria sighed, as she thought she still needed to learn more from science. "From all indications though, the Synth-En here is completed without a hitch, despite so many distinguishable patterns from normal energon, and this...concerns me a bit."

_What is it_? the yellow scout asked.

"Yeah, you said it yourself, it's perfect, what to worry about, little scientist?" Arcee added.

"Negative side effect, that is...the equations were incomplete in first place, and we missed several points of it..." the sea-green femme answered. "But I'm just out of my element. I tried to consult it with our medic, but it seems like he is having too much to think and to do..." just then, they heard a loud crash from hallway. "What's that...?"

When they walked to the source, Bulkhead was laying flat with big hole from the training room.

"You have competition, Bulk," Ratchet was doing some sort of boxing moves, and he was pumped up. "I'm bit stronger than I used to be. Also a bit faster...HUMPH!" he threw a jab in front of Bumblebee's face. "Think you can take me, muscle car?" but Bumblebee refused him. "Wimp. How's it humming?" he asked as he walked pass Arcee.

"Did he just...?" Arcee questioned.

"Stronger, faster, studlier..." Bulkhead answered as he rubbed his head.

"More worrisome..." Aria's worry-wart nature kicked in as she sensed something was not right, with her teacher in science education, that was.

Ratchet was heading to where he stored more of Synth-En. "I need to be the top of my game. Our survival depends on it..." he whispered as he injected more of the formula to himself.

* * *

The alarm went off again. "Looks like the Cons hit another vein," Arcee stated.

"Autobots, roll out!" Optimus announced.

"Hey hey, shouldn't we wait for our secret weapon?" Bulkhead held his boss back.

"This mission is unlikely to require a medical expertise..."

"But you will never know when to require additional firepower," Ratchet was already there with his hands folding. "Bumblebee can handle the GroundBridge duty. Time to put some hurls into the Decepticon!"

They headed to the field immediately, with Ratchet took the lead with ninja moves, leaping all over the place. They soon discovered Vehicon miners drilled into some rocks, and the Autobots immediately took cover.

"Signal's weak, they may have the vein, but they won't find much energon pulse, not here," Bulkhead checked over the scanner.

"I take some comfort in the fact Megatron seems desperate to find the stuff as we are," Arcee commented.

"Do you always talk during this missions?!" Ratchet snarled at his team before launching forward to the enemy.

"I don't take any comfort in the fact that he seems to be losing it..." Aria muttered, as she and the others followed the warrior medic and opened fire. One Vehicon miner escaped by climbing the rock cliff, but he was pursued by Ratchet and eventually being caught.

"What's the big rush?" Ratchet asked as he pinned the poor miner under his feet.

"Just trying to get as far as I can from Autobot stink!" the miner replied.

"Does your boss know you have a potty mouth? Perhaps I should pay him a visit and tell him," the CMO was ready for some interrogation.

"Get melted, wheel grinder!"

"Melted? Now, there's a concept..." Ratchet brought out his blow-torch. "I won't ask the second time. WHERE. IS. MEGATRON?!"

Below the cliff, Optimus and the rest smacked through the Vehicons, when they heard a loud scream from above. As they reached the top, they saw in horror as Ratchet was torturing the poor miner. Before he could do any further torture, Optimus stopped his medic officer. "RATCHET! What are you doing?!"

"Gaining a result," Ratchet simply replied.

"And breaking protocol. That was a Decepticon miner, servant class, not warrior class," Optimus argued.

"Oh, let me guess, I'm just a _medic_," the warrior CMO snarled.

"Autobots do not inflict harm unless any other options had been applied. It is what separating us from the Decepticons," the Prime lectured.

"Is THIS really a time for another lecture, Optimus? You didn't just happen to discover Megatron's current location, did you? Well I did! And do you happen to know where those stockpile of raw energon waiting to be taken? I do!" he yelled in fury, which was the thing he rarely did, especially to Optimus.

"Ratch...?" Aria knew it, something went terribly wrong.

"Come on Ratchet, calm it down," Bulkhead tried to cool him off.

"Calm is the last thing we need! Calm is what caused us losing Cybertron!" Ratchet was in crazy fury. "The Cons have a warship, an army, all these energon scouting! You don't think Megatron isn't gearing up for something BIG?! We're squadroning all resources, chasing after HIS CRUMPS! When we need really to be HITTING HIM HARD and HITTING HIM NOW! Precisely where it HURTS!"

"A direct assault to the Decepticon will only provoke retaliation. And lead to incalculable loses. I would not endanger any innocent human lives," Optimus stated.

"And you seem not to have problem with endangering ours! Just as Cliffjumper...oh I forgot, he couldn't be here today," the medic replied harshly.

That alone brought very offensive insult to Arcee. "That's it!" she was about to lash before being held back by Bulkhead and Aria.

"I almost forgot that you also left Elita being scrapped by the Cons, and Arianna as a delicious bait for Megatron, didn't you?" the medic added further insult.

Aria was rather shocked and pained to hear that. "Why you...?!"

"What, do you have any complain, Autobot fleshing? Because THAT was happening exactly, you know it," Ratchet turned his insult to the sea-green femme.

"No, it wasn't!" Aria's voice was rather high, she was clearly being offended.

"Listen to your senior, will you?! Or you feel like you're great and all because you are the majestic legendary White Cybertronian?! Tell you what, you ARE nothing without Arianna's body part being tinkered inside your body!" the medic laughed mockingly. "Just think about it, a White Cybertronian, half-human, and being used as remote control janitor drone in the past by mere humans? Really, you can make a whole better legend from now on!"

"Don't tempt me..." Aria clenched her fist in attempt to hold herself, if she wasn't aware that Ratchet was in unstable mind, she would take out her cannon anytime soon.

"You know your problem Optimus? For such a big and strong bot, you're SOFT!" Ratchet spat out his last insult. "You didn't pound Megatron into scrap when you had the chance! MANY CHANCES in fact!"

But Optimus didn't show any irritation whatsoever. "I'm afraid that the Synthetic Energon has impaired your judgement, old friend. I am confining you to base until further notice," he merely said. "Bumblebee, bridge us back."

As the bridge opened, Ratchet just sighed and walked into the portal. But, as Bulkhead was the second to enter, much to their shock Ratchet retaliated by tossing the green bot and raced off in ambulance mode.

"I knew it!" Aria was pretty shocked by the turnout. "And where did he off to now?!"

"I'm afraid he's after Megatron now..." Arcee said.

"What...?" Aria remembered that Ratchet was interrogating the miner for it.

"We have to get back to base, and track down his signal," Optimus said. "Autobots, return to base."

Aria was in dilemma, she knew that getting back and working on monitor would be wise, but she was worried about Ratchet. When the Synthetic Energon may powered the mad medic, Aria knew better than underestimating the Decepticon tyrant. When she walked through the GroundBridge, she decided to break the protocol as well. The sea-green femme carefully walked away from her teammates, brought out her wheel, and sped off in Ratchet's direction.

"ARIA, WAIT!" Optimus was too late as his daughter already disappeared from his sight.

"Just how many rule-breakers we got today?" Arcee was frustrated. "Aria, if you hear me then get back here in this second!" she commed her student.

"Sorry father, Miss Arcee, I just can't leave him! You can do whatever you want to me, after I get Ratchet back it is. I will call you when I find him, Aria out," Aria cut out the comm and disabling it, but she had no clue where Ratchet was off to. Then, she hit the jackpot when she came across the miner from before, he was taking a rest under a canyon. "Hey you!"

The Decepticon miner was spooked immediately when he spotted her. "No! Don't hurt me anymore, I beg you! PLEASE!"

For the first time ever, Aria felt sorry for Decepticon, the servant class that was. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you, I swear," she wasn't moving because she didn't want to spook the poor miner anymore. "I just want you to tell me, where is Megatron?"

"Ah, he is...he is...in our old mine, about 20 miles to the southwest, over the big cliff there," he pointed to the cliff. "Please, just don't kill me please."

"Well, I won't, thank you so much," Aria then sped off to the said direction. "Ratch, you're not going to get away with this..."

* * *

The Autobots were back in the base, miss Aria and Ratchet. Arcee immediately worked on the scanner. "Can't get a fix on Ratchet's coordinate. About Aria..." she switched to White Energon basis scanner, but it was out of commission for maintenance. "Scrap...!"

"That boogie energon must be scrambling his signal," Bulkhead said.

"Keep trying, we've got to find Ratchet and Aria before they find Megatron," Optimus was worried, for his old friend and daughter.

* * *

The mine wasn't too hard to spot, as Aria could identify it immediately. "Jackpot..." and when she hit the location, she came across the medic she was looking for, observing the mine from behind big rock. "Find you, Ratchet!"

"Oh it's you," Ratchet hasn't stopped his snarl. "I take it, you also want to set some score on Megatron?"

"No, I'm here to pick you up!" Aria replied firmly. "You're out of your mind, clearly. Taking out Megatron all by yourself?! Just think about it! You want to get yourself killed?! You clearly haven't tasted his freaky purple blast, have you?!"

"Don't try to lecture me, half-fleshing! This is the thing that your father were supposed to do many eons ago, but he failed for it!" the medic snapped. "If you're here only to bug me, just vanish, puny girl!"

"In your dream! Listen, you're being affected by that psycho green liquid, snap out of it!" Aria grabbed his arm. "Come back with me now, and we're going to solve matters together, as a team! As what we already did before...!"

"Together?! TOGETHER?!" the medic just pushed the smaller girl back harshly. "If it's not clear already, this so-called team only gets in my way! Now, just get away from my face, before I make you to...!"

"Hell no I'll back down," Aria knew it was time to use force. But she clearly didn't expect Ratchet to make a first move on her. That medic already turned into the evil one. As Ratchet tried to grab her, the half-Autobot grabbed his arm and twisted him using wrestling move. It apparently worked, if only the orange mech wasn't bigger than her and powered up by Synth-En. Ratchet could easily thwart the little girl by single swing on his arm.

"Now, I recommend you for full bed rest!" Ratchet said as he grabbed Aria and once again tossed her to rock, this time, he knocked her out cold. He turned around, heading to the mine this time. "And, full bed rest for Megatron, forever...!"

* * *

"Ouch..." Aria wasn't out for too long, but she felt her head was nasty. When she came to, the medic was already gone. She peeked over the mine, all the entrance guards were already smacked down. "Ratch, this time...I'll just blast you...and put a leash on your neck!" she hissed, before she made her way to the mine. She decided to transform back to human as it would provide her with better stealth. Entering a mine filled with Decepticons, and Megatron, was really a bad choice. "Going there is as equal as 5 hours lecture from father and possibly Miss Arcee, being grounded for several days and being scrapped by Megatron as a bonus..." she pondered. "It's worth it." With that, she dashed inside.

But, the ponytail found that stealth may not be needed, as all the miners there were out cold as well"Really...nasty..." she muttered as she headed to another section. There, she was shocked as Ratchet was punching Megatron to his face, hard. "Wow...!" she was rather amazed.

"Alright, medic..." Megatron was rather curious.

"For Cybertron...!" Ratchet attempted to give another punch, but it was blocked by Megatron. The Autobot medic cried in pain as the Decepticon tyrant twisted his arm.

"I knew it...!" Aria face-palmed herself, she knew that Megatron wouldn't go down that easy.

"Ratchet seemed to be more spirited than I recollected..." the gladiator stated.

"Chemical enhancement perhaps?" Knock Out asked.

Much to Aria's horror, Megatron punched a big hole in Ratchet's chest plate. As he began to leak the Synth-En, Megatron threw him aside. "There's your laboratory sample, doctor. Find out if the chemical can do for Optimus Prime's lap dog, imagine what it can do for our troops," the Decepticon tyrant walked away.

Aria did her best to hide behind the rock from Megatron's sight. She already advised her science mentor not to engage Megatron carelessly, she wasn't going to do the opposite. As Megatron walked away, the ponytail peeked over again and saw Knock Out already got a sample of green liquid in his tube.

"Doctor to doctor I must say, your contribution to the Decepticon cause is very much appreciated. I will be sure to boast your accomplishment when you're gone," the red car took out his saw. "Which will happen in three...two..."

"HEYAH!" Aria transformed to Autobot, jumped and kicked Knock Out as far as she could. "Don't you dare to touch him!" she shouted in anger. "Ratchet, you're alright?!" the sea-green femme crouched down.

"Aria...you..." the hurt medic didn't expect that girl to be there.

"Hey there Ratch..." Aria knew that the medic was back to his old self, which gladdened her. But her joy was short-lived, as she heard a saw from her behind.

"There you are, whitey-whitey femme, although you're not white after all..." Knock Out said as he prepared to strike.

Aria was bit too late to raise her guard, as the red car easily tossed her aside with his saw. "Augh!" she cried in pain as the saw managed to scratch her shoulder a bit. As Knock Out was about to strike again, he heard shootings from far away.

Ratchet took the chance to grab Knock Out from behind, and kicked him despite his weakened body. The tube with Synth-En was out of his hand.

"Ratchet!" Aria cried out in alarm as Ratchet clutched his wounded chest and fell to his knees. With some more effort, Ratchet managed to get Knock Out's saw got stuck in the wall. The orange mech took the chance to grab the tube.

"What are you going to do? Drink it?" the red Decepticon asked.

"No...I'm going to destroy it!" the Autobot medic crushed the sample by throwing it to the wall.

Knock Out finally managed to free his hand. "You IDIOT! Megatron will have my head!"

"Ratchet!" Aria rushed to his side when the medic passed out. Then she stood protectively in front of him. "I will have your head if you dare to take a step!"

Well, Knock Out didn't have to, because Optimus and his team approaching, and the red car was forced to call it retreat. "Ratchet...hold on!" Aria was deeply worried. "Father..." she turned around to see her father and teammates.

"You okay Aria?" Arcee asked to her junior.

"I'm fine, but Ratchet had lost a lot of energon!"

* * *

Back at base, Aria was in charge of treating their medic. Not too difficult even for apprentice medic. Ratchet was hooked to energon drip, and his pulse was being monitored as he was refueled.

"Easy, old friend," Optimus reassured him. "You lost a lot of energon, good and bad."

"Optimus...I..." Ratchet whispered weakly. "I did not intend...to hurt anyone...just want to..."

"Help us, I know," Optimus nodded. "But you nearly caused us losing something...irreplaceable. Our medic, and the most trusted friend."

"And a teacher too," Aria spoke in. "It's more important for us than additional firepower in field, we really need someone powerful enough, to support us from behind."

"You did lead us to much needed energon supply," Optimus pointed to the large number of energon cubes behind. "And for that, we all should be thankful."

"The Synthetic Energon clearly needs refining before it can be tested again. On machines, not Autobots," Ratchet stated.

"Especially not yourself," Aria walked in to check the monitor again.

"Aria, I'm counting on you taking care of my old friend," Optimus said.

"Sure do," Aria gave a thumb up. As Optimus walked away, she sighed to the medic. "You surely scared me to death, you know." She transformed to Autobot to get better reach to the cables.

With that, Ratchet just noticed that the girl was full of scratches. "Aria, you...! You're injured?!" his medic instinct kicked in and he jerked up.

"Wow, relax, okay?" Aria pushed him back down. "You are in worse shape, worry about yourself more. Mine is just minor, it will heal overnight all by itself."

Ratchet still remembered that some of the injuries were caused by him. "Aria, I don't know how to apologize to you..." he said sadly, as he recollected all the insults he threw at her.

"It's alright, I knew you weren't yourself back then," Aria smiled. "Although, I was curious. Those things you said back then, did you really think of me that way, and just kept it for yourself until now?"

"No, in the name of Allspark, not a chance!" Ratchet shook his head firmly. "You're irreplaceable for us, especially for Optimus. There's no way I will have such thoughts for you."

"I'm glad then," Aria replied in relief.

"I also want to say...thank you," Ratchet continued. "You followed me to that mine...when I thought you already left that place..."

"There's no way I will abandon you, not a single chance," the half Autobot held the medic's hand. "But well, since you already caused us so much trouble, this time, be a good patient and let me take care of you, okay? No argument there."

Ratchet replied with a smile. He was truly glad to have that girl on his side.

Just then, Agent Fowler once again rolled in without notification. "Prime, so sorry that I come again without noticing you, but, this is important," the black agent said in rush.

"Again?" Bulkhead noted.

"Special Agent Fowler, is there something I can help you?" Optimus asked politely.

"Well yeah, I'm here not for you, but for your daughter. Ah, there you are!" Fowler noticed the girl.

"For me?" Aria frowned, but she transformed back to human and approached the agent. "What's up?"

Fowler was seemed to be uncomfortable for what he was about to say next. "Well...how should I start this...?" he scratched his head. Then, he took a deep breath. "Listen, I've found your father, your human father."

* * *

Dead silence. Aria, as well as the other Autobots, widened their eyes in shock. They were all speechless.

"...Really...?" Aria didn't know if she should be happy with the news or not. She first looked at Optimus, then Arcee, then Bulkhead, they all had this very weird look.

"Wow...didn't see that coming..." Bulkhead now turned his attention to Optimus. "Boss bot?"

Aria was exchanging nervous look to her father, she didn't expect to receive such news at that time. "Er... Agent Fowler, I think I've told you to stop searching my human family...?"

"Yeah, I should stand corrected there. It wasn't like I found him, he found me instead," the big belly man replied.

"He...found you?" Aria was confused.

"Yeah, there was this man sending a letter to me, saying that he wanted to meet me. So I went to his place, and he said that he's the biological father of you," Fowler explained.

"Can we get clear who are we talking about?" Arcee cut in.

"I was about to get to that part," Fowler said as he brought out his suitcase. "May I borrow your computer?"

With Ratchet out of commission, Arcee volunteered to operate the computer. "This man, right," finally, there was an image of middle-aged man, with black short hair, and oriental looking face.

When that picture showed up, Aria had this horror look on her face. _No way...why it has to be him..._?

"His name is Benjamin Yoshida, and he's..." Fowler paused to take a breath. "One of the scientists group...who conducted the illegal experiment with Dynasty 8..."

"WHAT?!" they all were shocked to the core. The scientist who involved in that case was Aria's biological father?!

"You serious about this?!" Arcee demanded.

"I AM dead serious, in fact I knew this man pretty well! As I was in charge of his paperwork that is," Fowler argued back. "So, kid, you may also know this man...?"

"I know him, there's no way I can forget this face..." Aria hissed, she clenched her fist tightly, her eyes were burning with anger. "He was there on that day...! And..." she gritted her teeth, she felt like she was about to go berserk. "He was the one who pulled Arianna's spark...!"


	15. Pandora Box of Bitter Truth

"_Birth and death, we all move between these two unknowns"_

* * *

There couldn't be more shocking moment for the entire Autobot team when the White Cybertronian revealed it.

"He was the one who pulled Arianna's spark...!"

Even Optimus felt like the world went dark in front of his optics. When he thought back about how Arianna died in human hands. But, never ever he imagined, that the culprit for it was his second daughter's human father.

"You...gotta to be kidding..." Bulkhead stated with very shocked expression.

"I AM DEAD SERIOUS!" Aria yelled, she tried her best to hold her outrage. "I saw it with my own eyes. He did it in front of me!" she closed her optics, and reflected back to that day.

_ARIANNA! NO!_

_BZZZT...PRAKKKKK_

_NOOOO!_

"I can still remember that day clearly, like it just happened yesterday..." Aria's voice was cracked. And now, she felt so disgusted about it.

They were all speechless for some moments, even Optimus didn't look like he was about to say something.

"Okay, so..." Arcee broke the silence. "This man, killed Arianna, experimented on his daughter, then by now he claimed to be her father? Doesn't make any sense for me..."

"As if I could believe him either. Benjamin Yoshida was sentenced 20 years prison altogether with the others of the scientists group. He was still in the prison, when he sent the letter to me. So, just this morning I went to the national prison to meet him," Fowler explained further. "He said that the girl they experimented on was his daughter, and he wanted her back."

"Want me back...?" Aria growled.

"First of all, is there any scientific prove that man was linked with Aria...?" having heard enough, Ratchet got up from the sick bay and walked to the group.

"Ratchet!" Optimus was alarmed as his old friend was staggering.

"There is nothing to worry about, Optimus," the medic reassured his leader, before continuing. "Now, we can't truly believe any theory unless there is a proof..."

"I know that doc, that was why, I told Benjamin that we might have to conduct some DNA testing before it. But you know DNA testing would take some time. Then again, that man gave me this," Fowler took another thing, it was a video tape.

"A video tape...?" Aria frowned.

"He said that this alone would prove that he was your biological father," Fowler said.

"So, shall we look it?" Arcee asked.

Fowler looked nervous again. "Yeah, we should be. But before that, I warn you. I've seen the context of this and...it's not going to be very good stuff..."

Aria widened her eyes, she realized that they were about to open Pandora box, there was no turning back after that. But the girl herself had already enough, she wanted the truth, about herself, immediately. "Proceed, please..." when she looked up, Optimus looked at her in concern. "It is going to be alright, father," she said with a smile, although she was clearly shaking.

So, with the help of Ratchet, they played the video in big monitor.

The first scene was a group of scientists gathered in meeting room. Kaldovski was sitting in the big chair, and Benjamin Yoshida was on his left.

"_We have to execute the second project plan as soon as possible, deadline is approaching. That robot girl grows like crazy. It will be anytime soon before she reaches the stage where there's no way we can use the body parts."_

_"Yeah I know that. We should learn from our mistake many years ago. Doctor Benjamin, is the preparation of another test subject already complete?"_

_"From all indications..."_ it was Benjamin's voice. "_Everything shall go smoothly, boss. I will do it about tomorrow or sooner."_

_"Excellent, Doctor Benjamin. I shall wait for the good news. We will conduct second project in three days. I expect you to be on time, doctor."_

_"Of course, my liege."_

After that, the scene changed. This time, there was Benjamin, with his assistant in his own laboratory. Benjamin was holding a baby on his arm.

"_Doctor Benjamin, got to admit that it's unbelievable that you can do this kind of thing. But, to this girl out of the others...?"_

_"I've waited for many years when my dreams can come true, when I can grasp a control of human life in my hands..."_

_"How about your wife? Did she approve this?"_

_"She is...her time is almost running out..." _Benjamin sighed sadly. "_There's nothing we can do about her disease...let's do this."_

Benjamin put the baby on test tube, then connected it to several cables. After that, he pressed some buttons, the test tube began to spark electricity. It started to glow brightly, and much to the spectators' shock, the baby started to grow. From baby to toddler in mere seconds, from toddlers to young child in mere minutes. Aria couldn't prepare of what she was going to see next.

That baby...was herself. It was revealed after that baby grew into young child stage.

_No way..._

"_The flash-grow experiment is success!" _the assistant announced. "_You did it, doctor! Congratulations! To think by tinkering growth rate of human cell, a baby could grow into full adult in minutes!"_

_"Yeah, I told you I could do it. If only they didn't ban my experiment, this can be so much use for our nations. Thankfully, I have Kaldovski on my back_," Benjamin stared to the unconscious girl.

"_One question doctor, after this, do we have to teach her walking, talking and all that stuff?"_

_"No need to. All the intelligences and basic abilities were transferred directly to her brain, it's courtesy of my co-worker's research. Now, we shall hurry up, she will wake anytime soon."_

_"Sure Doctor Benjamin, by the way, I heard that the big boss will give you an honor to join directly in the second project development."_

_"He told me that too, and it's really my honor to get involved in such experiment."_

* * *

Dead silence, all the bots were shocked to find out the truth of their half-Autobot friend's origin. But, there was no telling on how that girl took it. Obviously, she didn't take it well.

It was the time when Aria felt like her world shattered in pieces and the sky fell on top of her. "_No way...no way..._" she kept muttering that in her mind. Her days with Arianna, the death of Arianna, her days as killing machine for Dynasty 8, together with the scene from that video, everything flashed through her eyes.

After everything happened in her life, this was the worst of all.

"_Why...?_" she felt like she was cursed ever since the day she was born. Then all the images on her head started to swirl around.

"Oh shit! Kid, hang on! Help, she passed out!" Fowler's words echoed faintly in her ears.

_I shouldn't be alive since the beginning..._ after that, Aria blackened out.


	16. The Ultimate Vengeance

"_A mistake is always forgivable, rarely excusable and always unacceptable"_

* * *

"Is she going to be alright...?"

"Who knows, she just had some nasty PTSD after all..." it was Jack.

Those voices made Aria regaining consciousness some time later. She was quite surprised to find her three human friends were already there. That was right, it was already school out time.

"Oh, she wakes up!" Miko announced, eventually getting the attention of everyone presented.

Aria found herself laying on the couch, with cool rag placed on her forehead. Immediately, all the Autobots swarmed the couch area. Optimus was looking at his daughter with concern on his face.

"Aria..." the Prime asked with worried tone. "Are you alright?"

Aria really wanted to say 'I'm okay, don't worry' as usual, but she couldn't find her voice to say it. She couldn't ever put her smile back, even the fake one. She was very, very devastated.

"Really, I don't believe it..." Rafael muttered. "What kind of parent did such thing to their kids...?"

"Really...nasty..." Miko added.

The ponytail girl widened her eyes and turned her attention to the children. "You guys...already know it...?" she finally was able to speak.

"They insisted us to tell them...sorry," Bulkhead replied.

Aria gave a long and deep sigh. "It's okay..." she stood up from the couch, and walked to the railing to face her Autobot friends. "So that's why I couldn't remember a single thing about my own past life before this...because I didn't have any to remember since the beginning..." she muttered sadly.

"Kid, I don't think this is the right time but..." Fowler was still there. "...Benjamin told me that he wants to meet you, but I have to ask for your confirmation first. So..."

_No, don't do that! _Bumblebee shook his head frantically.

"Pit yeah, why you have to give a scrap to that human?!" Bulkhead added. "Just leave him to rust, I mean, rot in his own sins and...!"

"Bulkhead!" Optimus cut in with firm voice.

"Opps, sorry..." Bulkhead immediately shut his mouth, after he realized he just made the mood got even worse.

Aria hung her head low, when she knew that worthless man was her human father, it disgusted her. Even a gentle touch from Miko didn't reassure her.

"Aria," Optimus spoke with soft voice. "The decision is your own right to make."

"Optimus...!" Arcee was skeptical. "You can't be serious about this..." she thought that Optimus would give up on his daughter.

"Agent Fowler, can you give me time to think...?" Aria asked.

"Well sure, you can just give me a call whenever you ready," Fowler said as he got on his car and sped off the base.

The ponytail girl sighed again, then she leapt off the platform. "I want to...clear my head a bit..." she said to her friends before walking out the base.

"So, wanna to take some ride in the desert?" Arcee offered some companies.

"No thank you, I want to be alone..." Aria replied without turning her head back, she disappeared through the hallway.

"Poor kid..." Bulkhead commented sadly.

* * *

Aria was sitting alone in the open cliff, watching the stars. The short event from before really torn her apart in instant. That was to be expected, she just found out the truth about her origin, the very bitter revelation. Everything she worked for all these times, just disappeared and shattered in a blink of eye.

It really hurt her when she thought on how she was born. She was born as a lab rat, not a human being. At that time, she had the physical body of 14 years old, but it hadn't been a full one year since she existed in the world.

Since she existed in the world...Aria brought back the question she had abandoned long time ago. _Why I was born in first place..._? Aria finally realized that she wasn't a normal human being since the beginning. Her body was forced to grow faster through some illegal experiment, then being converted to a cyborg. Everything in her wasn't original and normal, even the past life in her memory wasn't hers, it was Arianna's memory. She didn't have her own past life prior to that fateful day, because it simply didn't exist.

She changed her thought to Arianna. It really disgusted for her to think that her own human father took Arianna in first place. Experimenting on her was bad enough, taking her big sister away was the worst.

A tear rolled on her eyes, she buried her face on her knees, sobbing quietly. "Why I should exist in the world...?" she whispered. Just then, she heard a footstep from behind.

"Hey Aria..." it was Jack, from far away behind her. "Sorry...I know you want some private time, but..."

Aria was pretty surprised to see that boy there, but she was glad that someone followed her after all. "It's okay..."

"So...mind if I sit beside you? The stars are pretty...see?" Jack asked.

"Sure, come here..." Aria replied. Then the boy came closer and sat right at her side. They were quiet for some moment. "You know, I always dreamt of one thing..." the girl broke the silence. "If my human parents were out there, they would be in panic, worry, frantic...they were searching for me, non stop. And, if the chance came when I finally reunited with them...there would be this tearful, joyful moment. They would be hugging me and crying, saying 'I love you' and all that stuffs..." she sighed sadly. "But...it was all...only a dream, very unrealistic imagination..."

Jack didn't reply, he just listened.

"Tell me Jack, was I...supposed to be born at first place...?" she asked.

"No, don't say such thing," Jack replied firmly. "You can't say that you weren't supposed to, Aria. You're here, that's the fact. You're alive today, that's the greatest miracle of the world."

Aria was surprised that the young boy could have such wise words. That reassured her a bit. "But...I don't know what I supposed to do...from now on..." she reflected again to the video scene. "My life is a mess, total mess...I don't even know where to begin with..."

"Well, it may not be the right time to chance topic...I heard from Arcee, you pursued Ratchet in drug to Decepticon mine," Jack said. "She said that she was worried to death. It was the first time you engaged enemy all by yourself. But you went in. May I know why you went in?"

"Ratchet was there, and he was in danger," Aria replied. "There was no way I would run away."

"Even if Megatron, the one who blasted you and gave you anaphylactic shock, was there?"

"Who said that Decepti-creep can scare me? My precious teammate was in danger, I couldn't back down," Aria said.

"Then, you wouldn't back down from this one too, right?" Jack finally revealed his point. "You always said something like, I'm not going down without a fight."

Those words snapped Aria's mind. "Yeah..." she muttered. She almost forgot about everything in her current life. Aria knew that she was having a good life with the Autobots, with Optimus. She was expecting a bright future with her father as well. She recalled back the past events with her friends. Games with Miko, race with Bumblebee and Arcee, sparring with Bulkhead, helping Raf with his computer, hanging out with Optimus, even falling into cactus yard courtesy of Ratchet's mad rollerblade. She allowed herself to smile, it was a life full of happiness.

She already built the life she wanted, there was no way she could give it up. Soon, she felt like her burdens had been lifted a bit, and she could breathe again. "Yeah, that's right...there's no way I can give up now..." she said with determination. "I just can't give up..."

"Go for it then," Jack smiled as he was able to provide some solution and support.

Both teens walked back to base when the night became late. They approached Optimus in the hallway. "Father..." Aria was bit surprised to see him there.

"Aria..." Optimus then turned to the boy. "Jack..."

"I know, Aria, see you later," Jack knew to give the father and daughter some privacy.

"Yeah, thanks," Aria waved to the boy. "Well, father..."

"How is your feeling now, Aria?" the Prime crouched down.

"Well...no better..." Aria sighed. "I...don't know what to say anymore, father. That man, he was responsible for Arianna's death...and he is my human father..." she turned around to avoid her father's eyes. "That's really disgusting...to know that I'm related to him...to that murderer. I'm really a worthless..."

"Do not ever think about yourself that way, my dear Aria," Optimus gently scooped his daughter and cradled her in his arms. "I have said this to you, it was not on how you are born, but who you are in my heart. No matter what happened, you will always be my precious daughter. I will do just everything, to make sure that you know I love you more than anything."

Aria too, would do just anything for her father to make him say he loved her. His love, that was all she need, that was what she would fight for. "I love you too, father..." she hugged the big arm affectionally.

Only the warm touch of his daughter could make the Prime smiled. "Now, the night is getting late, you should take some rest..."

"Actually, not yet. I want to make a call to Agent Fowler," Aria said. "I'm going to command center now."

Optimus was more than willing to take her to that place. It turned out that all the Autobots were still there. Optimus put Aria back on the platform. There, the girl accessed Fowler's number from computer.

"Agent Fowler, this is me, Aria," Aria said to the monitor.

"_Oh it's you, what is it?_" came the reply.

"About that thing from before, I want to meet with that doctor," she told him. Oblivious to her, all her teammates were exchanging worried look to each other.

"_Oh okay...then, I will arrange the meeting for you two. When you will be available?"_

"Tomorrow, if possible..." Aria replied.

Few seconds before Fowler responded back. "_Well tomorrow morning 9.00 in FBI headquarter. How about that?_"

"That's fine. Thank you so much," the girl sighed in relief.

"_Be on time, kid." _and the connection went off.

"Aria, don't tell me that you're serious about playing daddy with that mad doctor?" Miko was skeptical.

"For once, I agree with Miko," Arcee said.

"What do you mean by that?!" Miko scoffed, clearly being offended.

"Seriously Aria, you really want abandon Optimus, and at top of all, us?" Arcee questioned Aria's choice.

"Now, who said I want to do such thing?" Aria cleared the fact. "I want to meet him, to settle things once and for all."

* * *

At the next day, Optimus drove Aria to FBI headquarter. He knew that his daughter was nervous, despite having very strong determination on her eyes. Their journey to FBI was rather quiet.

"Father, remember this," Aria spoke when they were approaching the building. "I've promised to you, haven't I? I will never leave you. That being said, there's nothing for you to worry about," she briefly touched the dashboard and felt the warm beneath it.

"Aria, I also want you to know, that the thing I wish in my entire life, is your happiness," Optimus knew that the promise meant nothing if his beloved daughter couldn't live in happy life.

Aria nodded, as the truck parked in the yard, the girl hopped down.

"Prime, good day for you," Agent Fowler was there.

"Good day for you too, Agent Fowler," replied the Prime.

"Hey kid, how are you?" the agent turned to the little girl.

"Fine..." she said with half heart. "So, shall we go inside...?"

"Yeah, the person is there, guarded heavily. So Prime, I'm going to borrow your daughter for a while. Kid, follow me," Fowler guided the girl. "I want to say something before we come inside. Keep your head cool."

"I know," although Aria wasn't sure that she could do that.

Then, they walked inside the building. Aria immediately spotted the man, Benjamin Yoshida, in the lobby couch. It was even clearer that he was half Asian half Western, which explained the girl's oriental look. As soon as Aria recognized the face, she had hard time to restrain herself from going on rampage. That man was the one who killed Arianna.

"Doctor Benjamin, I bring the guest," Fowler said as they approached the couch area. After they were close, Fowler stepped aside a bit, and asked the guards to give them privacy.

Benjamin had this very happy face when he spotted the girl. "Finally, I found you, Janice, my sweetheart...!" he immediately stood up from the sofa and attempted to walk closer to the girl. But Fowler and the guards prevented him to.

"Janice?" Aria frowned.

"That was your name. Your mom, Elena named you soon after you were born..." Benjamin took a photograph from his pocket and showed it to Aria.

Aria looked at the photograph of a woman with the name Elena. That woman was even resembling Asian woman, with slanted eyes and black hair. Elena really looked like Aria, which confirmed that she was the girl's biological mother. "Mom, huh...? Where is she now?"

"She had breast cancer for last 6 years, and she died from it just few days after your birth..." Benjamin replied. "Now, my daughter, I'm really happy to see you here, and I want to..."

Aria raised her hand to stop him, she wasn't in the mood for some joyful reunion. "Why?" she merely asked, she was there for answers.

Benjamin was silent for some seconds, he knew that the girl was angry. "I was...an exiled scientist from University of Harvard. I was banished from the laboratory due to illegal experiment, my flash-grow experiment..." he began. "Then, I met Kaldovski, who said that he could support me for the experiment that I really wanted to make it happen. So I joined him, and he did provide me with everything I needed."

"Why me?" Aria asked again.

"Kaldovski once said this to me and his other members, that in the name of science and bright future of humanity, we had to make the necessary sacrifice," the doctor replied. "It was all to make our dream came true."

That statement ignited Aria's anger further. "_Necessary sacrifice_...?!" she asked. "Even me...?!"

"It wasn't like what you think! True, at that time I totally fell for his words, he really made it sounded very true!" Benjamin hurriedly added further. "But after we were being arrested, I finally realized just how wrong it was! It was really a stupid action I did back then, and I would regret it for the rest of my life!"

Aria didn't buy that, as she still stared at Benjamin menacingly. The fact that Benjamin realized his mistake, didn't make the girl felt any better.

"It was the fact! And one thing you should know, I love you! I love you, and I missed you all this time!" the scientist began to cry. "Elena was gone, you are the only one I have. Every day I spent inside the prison was horrible, it was lonely! I don't want to spend the rest of my life in guilt and loneliness. So I came here today, to meet you and apologize for everything I've done for you! Please, FORGIVE ME!" he begged on the girl on his knees.

The ponytail was bit surprised when the doctor was on his knees, she didn't expect that to happen. She found out that, Benjamin wanted her to come back to him, because that man simply felt so lonely in prison, without any relatives to visit him. Aria sighed, somehow, she felt sorry for her human father. So, she crouched down and reached him. "I know, I know what it's like to be alone..." Aria said softly. "I know, _dad_."

Hearing the word 'dad', Benjamin's tears stopped, and he looked up with a smile, which looked like very desperate smile. "Really...?" he was clearly having a big expectation. "You forgive me...? So, will you come back to me...sweetheart?"

Much to the doctor's shock, Aria shook her head. "Sadly, no," Aria stood up and stepping away from the doctor. "I can't."

Benjamin gasped in shock. "Why...?" he asked with disbelief and horror. "Janice, I know you are mad for what I've done to you. But, it's a past! I promise I will think a way to get you back to normal, and...!"

"It is _Aria,_" the girl corrected. "And, it's not only about me. Don't tell me you already forgot that you were the one who killed Arianna, the blue robot girl. She was the one who stayed at my side all the time, not _you. _And you, took her away from me. Do you really have any idea just how painful it was for me...?!" she increased her voice. Aria might feel sorry for Benjamin, but she had no place for him in her heart. "Do _you_ have any idea how my life was after that day?! It was_A LIVING HELL_!" the girl yelled harshly.

"I...I am truly sorry for that! But now I've changed! I swear!" Benjamin tried to explain. "And I swear I will do something for you to return to normal...!"

"And becoming your experiment again? _Never!" _the girl couldn't hide her rage anymore, as she stared at Benjamin with pure revenge. "Don't you think I want to be your experimental thing again. Between us, it's over from now on, doctor," she gave her answer to Benjamin, the rejection, to be exact.

"Please, don't do this to your father! I swear from now on, I will give all my love to you, to make up all of my mistakes!" the doctor wasn't about to give up. "Please, come back to me! When I get out of prison, we will start a new life together! We will be a family again! Come back to your father, please...!"

"Family huh? No thanks, 'cause I already have one. And I also already have a father, he's out there!" Aria pointed to the outside parking yard where Optimus parked.

"I already told you, didn't I doctor?" Fowler explained. "The giant alien robot who helped us with your arresting, took her under his wing, and now, she's his daughter."

"That's right," Aria confirmed. "I think I've made it clear. Now, I excuse myself, I have a lot of work to do back at home," the girl turned around and walked to the entrance.

Benjamin was proved to be stubborn, as he gave a chase to the girl. "Janice, wait!" he tried to grab her arm.

"My name is Aria!" the ponytail avoided it before Benjamin touched her. "Haven't I already made it clear?!" she turned around and faced the man.

"You...dare to switch your human father with a metal robot?!" Benjamin snarled. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"No, I'm not. Because that metal robot is proved to be much better father for me, than you," Aria replied. "You are not my father, he is, in fact."

"Listen, we're connected by blood, by DNA, we can prove it!" the doctor insisted. "I am your father, not anybody else."

"You think because that DNA alone then you can claim me? Never!" the girl raised her voice again. "If you really want to claim me, why you just did it now, when everything was already happening?! I tell you, your effort is just way, way too late."

"I'm trying to make things better for both of us okay?" Benjamin wasn't giving up. "So, just come back to me, and we will fix everything from now on."

"No!" Aria still firmly refused, even when Benjamin grabbed her arm, she just used her sheer power to pull her hand back.

"Don't you have at least some pity in me...?" the doctor asked in confusion, and desperation. "I've lost my wife, my job, and now I have to spend my years in prison...do you really have a heart to abandon me...? We are in fact, a family."

"Don't talk like you know everything about me! You don't know a single thing! Pity...? You said PITY?!" Aria's rage was on its peak. After making her living in hellish life, that man begged her to show some pity on him? The outraged girl grabbed a big potted plant on the entrance, and smashed it with all her might, eventually shocked the living out of everyone, especially Benjamin.

_PRAAAANGGGG_

_"IF ONLY YOU DIDN'T DO THAT STUPID EXPERIMENT ON ME, ALL OF THESE WOULD NEVER HAPPEN_!" Aria screamed at the top of her lungs. Never in her life she could be that angry. Angry was understatement, that girl was full of vengeance, toward the man who was biologically her father.

Benjamin was hit by the strong thunderbolt straight to his core as Aria screamed angrily in front of his face, like an outraged dragon.

Aria panted heavily to vent out her anger, her face was red and her fist clenched tightly. She turned her face away from Benjamin. "...And what did you mean by 'family'? Tell you what, our family relationship had ended from the day you used me as your lab rat. Now, you and I are no more..." she said. "...Reality is always cruel, doctor. But we all have to accept the reality, both you and me," she just casted a very brief, last glance to the scientist. "You too, have to accept the fact, that you have lost me."

With that, Benjamin's legs gave out and he fell slumped to the floor. He finally realized that 'Janice' wasn't going to come back to him, forever.

Aria walked out of the entrance. If she turned around again, she could see the expression of Benjamin himself. It was like his soul already left the body, he just stayed still like a dead statue with horror on his face. Aria cared no more about it, she didn't want to care for the rest of her life. Because that man was responsible for her beloved sister's death, and her very horrible past life. Her human father was the cause of very deep and painful open wound on her, which wasn't going to heal forever.

And that was how Aria made him pay, it was the ultimate revenge.

* * *

"Hey father..." Aria approached Optimus in the parking yard. Even if he was in truck mode, Aria could tell that Optimus was saddened by the turn out. He could hear everything inside thanks to his super audio receptor. And the Prime was hoping for better solution, but it turned out that the separation has gotten even wider and deeper.

Their drive to the base was quiet one as well, but the atmosphere inside the cabin was so heavy. Aria reflected back to her meeting with Benjamin just before. "You know, I wished that I could forgive him. But I just couldn't do it..." she said. "Not after what he did to me, and to Arianna...I just couldn't bring myself to."

"Aria, your own decision is your own right," Optimus spoke. "One thing that you should know, forgiveness means letting go of the past, which is an important key in advancing to the future."

"I know that, father, but I'm not that kind of strong person..." Aria sighed. "Even if I could forgive him, I already decided that I would not live with him. I was...very disappointed in him. He was a scientist who was great enough to make such experiment. But because of that, I just want him to know, no matter how great he was, there's no way you could toy around with life. He already made my life a mess, he had to receive the consequences of it. My life isn't a thing he could play with."

Optimus as a Prime, knew very well of that fact. Then again, there was one thing that greatly concerned him. "Aria, I have said that I only wish for your happiness. Are you sure, you want to travel down this path?"

"Of course, I've promised, right?" Aria touched the dash-board again. "From now on, I can really start a new life with my beloved father and friends on my side," she smiled a bit. "So...this way is better, much better..." although her shaking hand told the different story. Revenge wasn't always sweet thing, she just knew it.


	17. One Shall Fall

"_The devil has put a penalty on all things we enjoy in life."_

* * *

"And it was written in the Covenant of Primus that 'when the 47 spheres align, a perpetual conflict will culminate upon a world forged from chaos. The legendary Saint is the only one who reborn, emerging upon the chaos, within the tainted world. And the weak shall perish in the shadow of a rising darkness," Optimus recited the Covenant.

"Now sky is raining fire?" Arcee asked.

"Goes without say, it's a doom prophecy after all..." Ratchet replied.

"Prophecy of doom, all the world has it, Cybertron and Earth," Aria commented as she was staring at the monitor intently.

"I see it's a whole lotta hooey," Bulkhead commented.

"I first assumed the ancients were referring to our home planet, but being that Cybertron has been dark for eons..." Ratchet thought hard.

"And considering what has been befallen this planet since Megatron's arrival here..." Optimus gave the hint.

"Wow, wow, wow, we've known about this superstition and never gave it a second thought!" Bulkhead was skeptical.

"Why all the ominous ramblings now?" Arcee agreed.

"Because of the planetary alignment of which the prophecy referred, is nearly upon us," the last Prime replied.

"And it seems that the end point...is Earth..." Ratchet was wary.

"Eh, crazy coincidence...right..." even the green bot started to worry.

"Bulk, believe me it's not," Aria said. "Haven't you heard about the prophecy of Earth apocalypse too...? I just know that they weren't kidding about it..."

"How long we're talking?" Arcee eventually understood that the seemingly foolish superstition was about to be happening.

"At few days, at most," Ratchet replied.

"However unsettling this revelations may be, I am more concerned of those who might believe that the prophecy speaks to them alone..." the Prime said.

"Father, you just have to say, the crazy Decepticon leader," Aria commented. "I'm curious though, this 'legendary Saint is the only one reborn', who is this about...?"

"It is said that the legendary Saint existed altogether with Primus himself, before the creation of Cybertron," Ratchet said. "That is all that I have heard. It was unclear about who was this Saint, or where he came from."

"Indeed, old friend. The legend of this Saint was never mentioned. The only thing that we knew that, Primus favored this Saint so much. One source said, even more than the original Thirteen," Optimus said. "Out of jealousy, one of the Thirteen erased every mention of the Saint in Cybertron history, except one in Covenant of Primus."

"Being forgotten, eh?" Aria just frowned, but then, her vision started to go blank, and there was this weird voice on her head.

_History shall repeat itself, but I am more than just history. I will be a legend, and the protector._

_For I shall exist not only in one era, and on one purpose. I will live, and it shall be forever..._

"Aria?"

Arcee's voice snapped the ponytail back to life. "...What is it, Miss Arcee...?"

"We should be asking you that," Bulkhead said. "What were those weird things you said before?"

"Huh? Me?" Aria was confused. "I didn't say anything..."

"But we are sure you were mumbling something like 'history shall repeat itself...for I shall exist...shall be forever'..." Arcee asked.

"Whew, I'm...pretty sure I didn't say something like that..." Aria scratched her head in confusion, as those words echoed in her head just seconds ago. But, she didn't remember saying it herself.

"Aria, are you feeling alright?" Ratchet was concerned, so was Optimus.

"Uh yes, perfect! I'm fine, really fine," Aria smiled back, although she was concerned that her mind played tricks on her. _Just what on Earth was that...?_

* * *

"I did not seek the blood of Unicron to simply keep my spark aflame, but to rule the undead armies and to conquer worlds!" Megatron wasn't in good mood. And to accomplish that, I require more than this mere sliver that lies within me. So WHERE IS MY DARK ENERGON?!" he roared to his medic.

"Out there, Lord Megatron, just waiting for you to reach and pluck it..." Knock Out was more than nervous to face his Lord's wrath. "But you shouldn't push yourself too hard. You've had setbacks. You were in stasis."

Much to his shock, Megatron grabbed him with sheer power. "Exactly why I must make up for lost time! I can see the future vividly, but I must ensure its outcome! For I am the rising darkness of which the prophecy speaks!" he announced, as the vision of him stepping on his nemesis, Optimus Prime, flashed briefly in his eyes.

* * *

_You are merely nothing than the darkness..._

_No one of us shall win, or lose_

_So there is no need for me, to win over you, to dominate you_

_For I was born not to erase you, for I do not possess the meaning to..._

_For I exist, to ensure the darkness shall not consume the innocents..._

**_PARTHONUS!_**

"ARIA!"

Aria was snapped as Ratchet shouted at her. "Ratch...? Don't scare me like that!" she was annoyed as her sparkbeat was racing.

"You were the one who scared me," Ratchet replied. "What was the things you said before?"

"Huh...?" Aria was even more confused. "Ratchet, I didn't say anything..."

"I could swear in the name of Primus, that you were mumbling. What I could hear, no one of us shall win or lose, not to erase you, do not possess the meaning to..." the medic began to get worried. "What has gotten into you?"

"I...I don't know Ratchet..." Aria sighed. "Ever since this morning, I have all these strange voices inside my head. Female voice, to be exact..."

"Female?" Ratchet raised an optic ridge.

"Yeah, and I had never heard such voice, but for me it sounded...familiar..." the girl scratched her head. "And just now, there was a male voice, very demonic one. Just what he said back then...?"

"It will be better if I conduct a full scan on your neural mass," Ratchet said.

"Ratchet, you are not saying that I have some kind of mental problem, are you?" Aria protested, but she was concerned herself.

"It's for safety precaution...hey, is that Bumblebee?" Ratchet turned his attention to Rafael's laptop.

"On conspiracy website, where the users used to post the evidence of close encounter," Rafael answered. "But we have it under control Ratchet. We just delete it, and replace Bee with...!"

"_Mars cat says, take me to your feeder!"_

Aria couldn't hide her laughter of that image, but it was surprising to hear the orange medic laughed as well. "Ratch...?"

"Ratchet actually laughed...?" Miko questioned.

"Haha. Father, you want to see something funny?" Aria invited the leader to join.

"No," refused flatly.

"Aw, father..." Aria sighed in defeat as she exchanged look with her three friends. "That's my father, all plain and boring, you know."

"Don't take it personally, Primes are built that way," Arcee said as she joined in.

"Never seen Optimus laugh, cry or lose his cool," Bulkhead added.

"Well Aria, you're his daughter, right? You must have..." Jack asked.

"What I can say? I do, but never more than that," Aria shrugged.

"While Optimus certainly keeps his emotion in check, I've known him for far longer than any of you have, including Elita, Aria and Arianna," Ratchet said. "And he was different before he was made a Prime."

"Arianna knew it too, she was born before our father became a Prime, that is," Aria stated.

"Optimus wasn't always a Prime?" Rafael questioned.

"On Cybertron, one isn't born to greatness, but rather one must earn it," the medic replied.

Aria then reflected back to what Arianna said in her dream long ago. "_That white energon, I wasn't born with it, neither were you. But you earned it_," she wondered, what Arianna meant about that.

"So different how? We talking party animals?" Miko asked.

"No, no, Optimus was more like...Jack," the medic stated.

"What?" Jack was confused. "I'm nothing like..."

"_PRIME_!" Fowler's voice screamed through the comm link. "_Those tech heists my department's been tracking. We figured it was MECH on their kind of stealth tactics. Until moments ago when a security feed at the Pennington Airs Particle Collider captured this." _There was an image of Soundwave.

"Soundwave...?" Jack asked as they walked closer to the monitor.

"No kidding, I know they have good choice for a ninja sneaker," Aria said. "That one is reeaaaallly creepy..."

"_The Con without a face made off with a cutting edge phase conductor. Here's a punch list of everything else we've confirmed stolen to date."_

A list of things in 'TOP SECRET' popped out. "Plasma injector, neutron shield, tessarect...?" Ratchet exclaimed in disbelief, and immediately, he got the hint "There is only one thing missing if they intend to build..."

* * *

"The Decepticon Space Bridge 2.0 is nearly ready to launch," Knock Out reported, "All we require is…"

Soundwave brought an image.

"What Soundwave said. An ample power source."

"This one lies within a highly-fortified location…by human standards. I could tunnel in," Airachnid offered.

"The time of the prophecy is nearly upon us! We can no longer afford stealth!" Megatron declared, causing Knock Out and Airachnid to glance at one another nervously. It was their first time seeing the Decepticon tyrant so desperate. For what, they didn't know yet.

* * *

"_Prime! The 'Cons have really stepped at it this time. They hit a U.S military lab. Our boys in green will fend them off until your team show!" _Fowler reported from his helicopter.

"Seems like someone is in desperate survival attempt..." Aria commented.

"Agent Fowler, I fear that Megatron's desperation has actually reached is zenith. And you know that I can't condone even a single human casualty," Optimus said.

"That being said, I suggest you get those men and every human out of there, Agent Fowler!" Aria added.

Fowler sighed, but he knew he had no choice. "Fowler here. Evacuate all personnel. Immediately!

"So, what are we waiting for? Get dead engine blocks, right?!" Bulkhead smacked his fist.

"Autobots!" Optimus announced as the GroundBridge portal opened.

Aria immediately leapt off the platform and assembled for the roll out. She didn't like the situation the slightest, but she just didn't know how or why. Something just bothered her very much.

"Aria, what's wrong?" Arcee asked her student.

"Miss Arcee..." Aria briefly glanced to her mentor. "I don't know, but I feel like things aren't going to go smoothly..."

"ROLL OUT!" the Autobots transformed into vehicle and the half Autobot popped out her wheel to the portal.

* * *

On the military lab, things were already in smoke. The human soldiers struggled to stand their ground, but eventually they were called to retreat. Bunch of Vehicons already fully invaded the place, and they had their package in tow. They were prepared to get back to their warship.

Just then, the Autobot force arrived and opened fire. In matter of seconds, the fierce battle began. Pretty soon, the air force reinforcement of Decepticon began to arrive. It was going to be very hot fight.

* * *

Back at Nemesis...

"_Lord Megatron, package is secured, but the Autobots had arrived."_

That news made Megatron grunted in anger. "Prepare the ship for rendezvous! The package will be ready for pick up!" He decided to take the matters on his own hand, and flew off his ship.

* * *

Meanwhile Bumblebee was on the road with Rafael. It was when he received urgent call from Ratchet.

"_Bumblebee, the team may require backup. They're three klicks north of your current position just off the highway. If you drop Raf off at the exit, I can bridge him back to base from there."_

The yellow scout beeped something to his charge.

"It's okay Bee, we can go racing in another time," Rafael fully understood the situation.

Above the sky on top of them, Megatron was soaring, and he immediately spotted the yellow car. "Well, well. A foolish scout astray from the ranks," Megatron observed, before he opened purple fire to the Autobot. Bumblebee did his best to dodge all of it, but the last one managed to hit him. Bumblebee eventually halted to stop as he was sparkling purple.

He checked over Rafael with his windshield mirror. To the yellow bot's horror, Rafael's hand fell limp.

* * *

"HEYAH!" Aria was on her element when it came to shooting. With her powerful white blast, she could take any Cons down only with single shot. Eventually, the fight had changed into combat fight, and the girl unsheathed her blades for close combat. But as she was about to strike, another vision flashed through her.

A pair of purple eyes pierced through her processor. _You're here, White..._ the voice whispered very faintly.

"What...?" Aria really didn't understand any of it.

"ARIA!" the sea-green femme snapped back to reality, as Optimus grabbed a Con who was about to strike her. "Father!"

"Maintain your concentration, Aria," Optimus advised as he stood protectively in front of his daughter.

"...Sorry...!" Aria knew that she couldn't think of anything else in middle of fight. But, the strange visions just came out of the blue. And, she shuddered when thinking of that pair of purple eyes.

"Aria, are you...?" Optimus noticed that something was wrong with her.

"No, it's nothing," Aria shook her head vigorously before getting back to fight. No time to think about that.

Not for long, they were able to dissipate all the Vehicons. But much to their shock, Megatron flew and landed in front of them. It was pretty rare for the Decepticon leader to head to battlefield all by himself.

"Optimus...and Aria..." Megatron smirked to the little femme.

"Megatron..." Optimus knew to shield his daughter from his nemesis. "Do you not see the folly in trying to make a prophecy to fruition?"

"Well, I leave matters to fate. If one can forge one's own destiny. Ah, speaking of fate..." Megatron trailed off.

The Autobots turned around their back to see Bumblebee walking to them, with a barely unconscious Rafael on his arms.

"Raf!?" Aria gasped in horror.

Arcee took the boy to her arms. "He's breathing...barely..."

"Aha...it seems that I swatted a bee and squashed a bug..." the Decepticon leader smirked evilly.

Bumblebee was enraged than ever, as he deployed his cannon and tried to shoot Megatron. Bulkhead held him back before he could do anything.

"How dare you...!" not only Bumblebee, Aria also stared at the gladiator menacingly, and pointed her cannon, prepared to blast his head. Rafael was also her best friend, and she wouldn't let him away with it.

"Aria, no!" but Optimus held his enraged daughter back. But he also knew, that enough was enough. "Ratchet, bridge us back!" Optimus was shielding his team as the green portal opened. "Arcee, Aria, attend to Rafael, and Bumblebee," he ordered.

"But...!" Aria protested, she wanted to stay, and giving some good beating to the one who hurt her friend.

"Aria, Rafael is our top priority. Do you understand?" Optimus stressed his point.

"I...got it," the sea-green femme sighed in defeat, but she got her father's point.

* * *

"Raf!" Jack gasped as Arcee and Bumblebee walked inside the base with unconscious Rafael.

"No!" Miko was shocked.

"What happened?" Ratchet asked.

"Megatron," Arcee simply replied with anger.

"Quickly, in my laboratory!" Ratchet instructed. Rafael was lying on the stretcher with his pulse being monitored. Bumblebee and everyone else watched in anxiety and worry.

* * *

The Nemesis took off after they got the power source they wanted, together with Megatron. Little did they know, that Optimus and Bulkhead were clinging to the ship.

* * *

"This is bad, his pulse is extremely weak..." Aria stated as she checked over Rafael's pulse on the wrist.

"UGH! Rafael isn't responding. We must run diagnostics of his assembl-I mean, vital statistics! Ugh! My tools! They're all wrong!" Ratchet was in desperate moment, he threw all his tools which made specially for Cybertronian.

"We need to call my mom," Jack said as he reached over his phone.

"Your mom may be a nurse, but does she know anything about the effects of dark energon on human body?!" Ratchet protested.

"Wha...do YOU know anything about human body?!" Jack argued back, eventually rendering the Autobot medic speechless. "Mom, it's urgent."

"The weak shall perish..." Ratchet reflected back to the part of the prophecy. "Be strong, Rafael..."

Aria was holding Rafael's hand, and she prayed badly for his safety. "I wish I can spare you from this suffering, Raf..." she whispered sadly. "I shall not let any innocent beings suffering under the darkness' grasp. No more suffering..."

Everyone presented was startled as Aria said those words, her last sentence, because it wasn't like her style of talking. And, her voice also changed a bit on the last part. If they peered carefully enough, they could see Aria's eyes glowing white briefly.

"Aria...?" Miko questioned to herself, what was happening to her half metal friend?

* * *

Meanwhile, on Nemesis...

"The power source will be rigged in no time, Lord Megatron. We are nearly at the construction sight," Knock Out reported.

"Nearly isn't good enough! The spheres are aligning! I must not miss my moment to-!" Megatron's rant was cut off by a chocked gasp and another strange vision. He saw a face of Unicron himself, and a volcano. From that moment, his eyes turned purple. He felt like he had to go to that place soon.

"Lord Megatron? Are you alright...?" Knock Out asked.

"Again! It's as if I can hear Unicron's thoughts!" Megatron murmured.

"Unicron? The Chaos Bringer?" Airachnid reflected back to some old Cybertron tale.

"They said dark energon is his blood...whatever..." Knock Out trailed.

"Complete the Space Bridge. There is something I must attend to," Megatron ordered as he began to walk away form the ship's bridge.

"Does he seem to be losing it?" Knock Out asked Airachnid.

"A bit," Airachnid agreed.

* * *

Back on Autobot base, June had arrived with her car through the portal.

"Mom! Thank God!" Jack ran to his mom.

"Grab my bag," June instructed as she rushed to Rafael's side.

Ratchet was scanning the boy over. "Measuring the extent of the absorption should help determine the proper course of treatment," Ratchet said as June began measuring Raf's pulse.

"If I don't get this boy stabilized now, he will NOT leave this table alive! Do you understand me?" June told him, which made the medic even more nervous. Rafael was dying...and fast.

It was too much for Bumblebee, he snapped and took his anger by punching a wall nearby, eventually made everyone flinching. Bumblebee was known as innocent and nice scout, it was rare for him to get that enraged.

"Bee, listen. You think I don't know how it feels to watch a partner...harmed? Revenge won't help Raf right now. You need to keep your emotions in check!" Arcee told the young scout as she held him back.

"Miss Arcee is right," Aria joined in. "Raf is strong boy, I know it. That's why, you have to be strong too..."

Bumblebee glanced over his precious charge being treated by June. He also knew it, that revenge wasn't the option for the situation.

Aria walked back to Rafael's side. "That's right Raf, be strong..." she knew that the boy needed mental support than anything. "You won't go down without a fight, will you...?"

* * *

Outside, the weather was going worse, as if the day was going turn into apocalypse.

Bulkhead and Optimus successfully infiltrated the Nemesis, and they were punching down all the guards in the storage where they kept the stolen power source.

"Ratchet, how is Rafael...?" Optimus commed.

"_It is too soon to know_," Ratchet told him.

"He is in good hand..."

"_Not mine, Optimus. Curse my Cybertronian pride! We've accepted these humans into our lives! Yet I bothered to learn so little of their science or medicine..._"

"Pull yourself together, old friend. Rafael needs you," Optimus reminded him.

_"And I have grown to need him," _Ratchet confessed.

"Lock onto my coordinates and activate the GroundBridge," Optimus requested, as he turned around, Bulkhead was ready with the heavy device on his back.

"Bulkhead, return to base. There is something I must do," Optimus said.

"Eh? Serious?" the green bot questioned.

"I have been foolish to not see what history has proven over and over again. That Autobots and Decepticons will never mend their ways. If there can be no diplomatic solution to this perpetual conflict, then I must not allow more darkness to fall upon this or any planet. _Megatron must be destroyed_!" Optimus declared.

That being said, all the drones inside Nemesis really couldn't prepare for it, as Optimus walked through the hall way.

"I have come for Megatron. And alone. Stand down and be spared," Optimus advised as he unfolded his blasters from his arms, but grudge was present on his voice.

But the drones didn't back down. So, Optimus had no choice but blasting all of them one by one.

* * *

Megatron already arrived at a place with volcano erupting.

"The flaming mountain in my visions!" Megatron observed as he flew over a volcano and transformed before landing on a rock nearby, "As if it summoned me, guided me! This is where I'm to station my Space Bridge! The place from which I am to harvest dark energon!"

"_Megatron! I am here! On your ship! Come and face me!" _it was the Prime, talking through a drone's comm link. His voice was grudging and angry.

"The place of which I am to defeat the last of the Primes!" Megatron then broadcasted through his ship comm link, "_Hear this_! _Any Decepticon who lays a hand on Optimus Prime will answer to me! Soundwave, lock onto my coordinates and lead my opponent to his destiny._"

* * *

"Jack, help me get Raf into the car. He's going to the emergency room," June finally had it enough.

"Nurse Darby, your doctors won't be able to comprehend what's affecting him. Not without a decade of study," Ratchet reasoned.

"I don't have time to argue!" June snapped.

"The effects of an energon blast on an Autobot can be devastating enough, even deadlier for White Cybertronian! But this is a human!" Ratchet murmured before a realization dawned on him at the readings on his computer, "I'm not getting any readings! How could I have not seen this? Rafael has been infected with dark energon!"

"I know it..." Aria whispered quietly. "He did it again...to innocent living beings..."

The whisper was so quiet, only Arcee could hear it. The blue femme noted that the girl was behaving strangely since that morning, and it concerned her. "Aria...?"

"What is it, Miss Arcee?" Aria was snapped again to reality, eventually she received very weird look from her mentor.

* * *

On the volcano site, Optimus stepped out of the GroundBridge to meet his nemesis.

"Megatron, today you answer for your crimes against Cybertron and against humanity," Optimus announced. "One shall stand..."

"And one shall fall. You, Optimus Prime!" Megatron declared.

With that, the two leaders started their fight, with a desire on each to end the life of the others. There only would be a single survivor of it, they would make sure.

* * *

"If dark energon is devouring Raf from the inside out, we must expel it. And fast. The only possible way I know. I need energon and white energon!" Ratchet proclaimed as he grabbed an empty glass tube.

"Wait. You said energon was devastating to humans!" June stopped him.

"Under normal circumstances, quite. But I am relying upon the dark matter currently invading Rafael's body to meet it head on," Ratchet clarified. "Aria!"

"On it, but, why you need normal energon too?" Aria asked when she deployed her hand syringe.

"Your white energon could fight the poisoning effect of dark energon, but it's too powerful, and so, normal energon is needed to maintain the level we need," Ratchet reasoned.

* * *

Optimus and Megatron were really giving everything they had in the deadly fight. Optimus and Megatron punched each other in the face at the same time, knocking them both back several feet. They raced towards each other again blasters blazing. They both dodged each others shots. They had been enemies for millennia, they already knew each other's fighting style well. Optimus knew, he couldn't do it with the usual way.

He pointed his blaster at Optimus and prepared to fire. Optimus pointed his own blaster directly at Megatron's blaster. Both fired at the same time. The crossfire caused them both to fall backwards several feet. Both staggered to their feet, and charged again. Optimus used his sword to deflect all of Megatron's shot, jumped on his head, and attack.

Megatron unsheathed his own blade, and both leaders locked their blades. "Your defeat here was foreseen by the Ancients. What was it they wrote? 'The weak shall perish'?" Megatron insulted.

"Do not believe everything you read!" Optimus said.

* * *

"Ratchet! Raf's vital!" Aria warned as the monitor beeped at very dangerous level. It was a real life and death situation. Rafael was in brink of death.

The white energon was ready, Ratchet extracted normal energon from Bumblebee, and put the vial alongside white energon vial on his machine.

"I need him over here, now!" the orange medic instructed as he prepared everything.

June and Jack pushed over Rafael's stretcher to the blue chamber. As Ratchet activated the machine, bluish white light started to glow and fill the chamber brightly. When the light died down, the humans and Bumblebee rushed inside to check over the boy.

Much to their relief, Rafael started to make noise and opened his eyes.

"Pulse rate is stabilizing..." June said as she checked over his vital.

"Bee...?" Rafael whispered weakly.

There couldn't be anymore joyful moment for the team. "Optimus, we did it..." Ratchet said.

"Raf..." it was Aria's turn to speak with the boy.

"Aria..." the boy said weakly.

"You did it..." the ponytail brushed her hand to the brown hair. Her joy moment was cut short, as she received yet another strange vision. Vision wasn't quite right, it was like something taking control of her, but she was well aware of herself. She quietly walked out of the group, and stood on the corner of the sick bay. She sighed heavily. "This is not the end yet..."

* * *

The fight on volcano site was getting hotter and deadlier. Both sides was thirsty for revenge, but there was no telling on what Optimus felt. For eons, he had hoped to change Megatron, hoping that the one who was once his brother, changed his path and followed the good. For that reasons alone, the Prime had confiscated his fist, even if he was the cause of Arianna's and Elita's demise in first place.

But, enough was enough, Megatron was a threat for any living being in universe.

_I promise, I will bring the end of the war, therefore, we shall live in peace together, my daughter._

It was a promise he couldn't abandon. It was for the sake of Aria, his last daughter and family.

Optimus changed into truck and hit the Decepticon leader rolling down the cliff. After Megatron fell flat on his back, Optimus jumped on top of him, and grind the face with his two leg tires. Megatron retaliated by grabbing Optimus and threw him aside.

That was it, Megatron had to die, for the goodness sake for his family, and the entire galaxies. He punched Megatron with pure rage.

"My destiny...!" Megatron moaned in pain as the last Prime stepped on his chest, with sword ready. "This isn't how it's supposed to end...!"

"On the contrary, Megatron. I could not have allowed this to end otherwise," Optimus corrected, and he was prepared to chop the Decepticon's head.

As the mouth of the volcano erupted in purple and orange fire and lightning flashed, Optimus brought his blade down.

_CRASHH_

Optimus didn't expect it. Megatron caught the blade with his hands. Something suddenly powered the tyrant from inside, the red truck could see it.

* * *

"Bulkhead, you let Optimus face Megatron alone?!" Arcee retorted in disbelief.

"What were you thinking?!" Aria added, clearly worried about her only father.

"I didn't have a choice..." Bulkhead answered.

"It could be a trap. We need to get a fix on his location!" Ratchet hurriedly worked on his computers.

Aria widened her eyes, that 'thing' overtook herself again. But, this time, it was more intense. She groaned in discomfort, as the white energon inside her was acting strangely.

"Aria, what's wrong?" Jack asked.

"No, nothing..." again, her voice was sounded bit different. "It is about time..." she murmured.

"Time of what?" the teen boy was confused.

"His awakening..." the girl replied.

"Aria, seriously, what has gotten into you?" Arcee couldn't hold it back anymore. "You kept talking about unclear things, and you don't behave like yourself for entire day."

"I don't know, Miss Arcee..." Aria sighed in defeat. "But I feel like I'm not myself in recent days..." she clutched her chest, as the discomfort feeling in her body grew even more intense. As if something inside her was about to awake anytime soon.

* * *

Megatron got psycho all of the sudden, as he managed to overpower Optimus in blink of eye. "How was it that you put it, Optimus? 'I couldn't have allowed this to end otherwise'?" with that, he snapped Optimus' blade into two.

As more lighting flashed, more thunder cracked and more fire burned around them, Megatron gained strength that he had never possessed before. And Optimus slowly grew weaker, because of the raining dark energon.

That was when Optimus noticed that it was eclipse. The planetary already aligned into one single line, and it was the time of doom, as the prophecy told. Optimus tried to get up, but Megatron took the turn to pinned him under his feet.

* * *

"AAAGH!" Aria clutched her head in pain all of the sudden, when a pair of purple eyes appeared again in her head. But, she wasn't getting only purple eyes this time. She felt like she had been poisoned by unseen force.

"ARIA!" Jack, and the others were alarmed as the ponytail screamed in pain and fell to her knees.

_You can't stop me_,_ the mortal_ _White...not this time..._

_NOT THIS TIME_

Those words attacked Aria's processor painfully. She felt like she recognized the voice, but she had no idea who was it. And what did he mean by 'not this time'?

"You alright?" Jack helped the girl to stand up.

"I'm fine..." Aria stood up all by herself. Then, her mind went to Optimus. She knew it, her father was in danger.

"I'm locked onto Optimus' signal...wait! How is it possible?!" Ratchet exclaimed in horror.

"What? What is it?!" Arcee asked in anxiety.

"Ratchet!" Aria ran closer to the monitor. "We need to get my father out of there NOW!"

* * *

Megatron saw the volcano was erupting dark energon instead of lava. "Well, well… It seems the Blood of Unicron I've been seeking is NOT out there. But rather right here!"

"Dark energon...? Erupting from the Earth...?" Optimus whispered in disbelief.

Megatron unfolded the blade in his arm and raised his arm high as lighting flashed around them. This was it. This was the time the prophecy would come about.

To be continued...


	18. One Shall Rise 1

"_Fate rarely calls upon us on the moment of our choosing"_

* * *

"Why is Dark Energon erupting from beneath the Earth...?" Optimus asked weakly, as the volcano continued to erupt the dark energon, and the poisonous liquid started to drip on his body.

"A question, Optimus, that you shall take to your grave!" Megatron was prepared to chop his nemesis.

"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" but thankfully, reinforcement arrived from GroundBridge. A powerful white blast pushed Megatron away, as Aria jumped through the portal, in her Autobot mode and both cannons deployed. Her face was drawn with anger. She charged toward Megatron, and pummeled him with white blasts. The white energon entered Megatron's body, and weakened him a bit.

Bulkhead followed through, as he helped the young girl distracting the Decepticon leader when his teammates would save Optimus from there.

Arcee soon joined and she was shocked by what she saw.

Ratchet also arrived. "Quickly! We must pull him through!" he instructed.

Aria glanced to the erupting volcano, for the first time ever she saw something like that. "What exactly is going on...?" she whispered. But, as she glanced to the raining dark energon, she felt something. Something that she had to accomplish.

"You..." Megatron eyed the girl. He didn't know why, but as the dark energon powered him up, his personality also began to get psycho. And as he saw Aria, he had this very bad ire toward her. "YOU!" he roared, as he charged to the girl.

"What the...?" Aria was pretty surprised, but thankfully, Bulkhead stepped in and punched the mad leader away.

"BULK! ARIA!" Arcee shouted as they already managed to save Optimus. "Now NOW NOW!" she urged them to go back.

"You go first Bulk! NOW!" Aria urged the green bot to go, as she planned to distract Megatron. She shot the last white blast, before popping out her wheel and followed Bulkhead to the GroundBridge. It had to be expected that Megatron would give a chase, both the Autobots raced as fast as they could to the portal. Aria was behind Bulkhead. When they jumped through the portal, Megatron unsheathed his blade engulfed in purple aura and struck whatever he could get. Bulkhead was spared, but Aria managed to get a scratch on her back before she got through the bridge.

"This is merely the beginning! I now possess enough Dark Energon to reanimate Unicron himself! YES!" Megatron felt the victory, and laughed evilly.

* * *

Bulkhead and Ratchet helped Optimus as they returned to base. Aria in human form, was walking bit farther behind them, as she began to feel the discomfort of dark energon scratch on her back.

"Easy, Optimus. From the looks of things, you've been exposed to a massive amount of Dark Energon," Ratchet advised.

"I am not the only one," Optimus reminded him as he referred to Raf who was once again being checked over by June. Ratchet helped him to sit down on metal berth.

"Hey..." Rafael whispered weakly to the red leader.

"He's lucky to be alive," the nurse scoffed at Optimus.

"AUGH!" Aria cried out painfully and she fell on her knees, as the dark energon seeped through her body, and the allergic reaction began to take place. Her body was attacked by severe aching all over.

"ARIA!" immediately, Ratchet, June, and Arcee rushed to her side and helped her to stand up. Even Optimus received spark attack from it. Then, Arcee was shocked to find a purplish scratch on the ponytail's back, it presented even in her human skin. "Oh no, you were attacked by Megatron, weren't you...?" the blue motorcycle asked.

"By the Allspark, you get infected by dark energon!" Ratchet exclaimed in horror.

"What?!" June was shocked. "We should get her to treatment, immediately!"

"No, it's okay, I'm fine," Aria stopped her. "The amount is little compared to what I received back in the mine. It's okay, soon, it would go away itself..." it was true, the pain was lesser than what she first received.

"How would you know that? This dark energon stuff almost killed Raf!" June protested.

"Not me, I'm a White Autobot," Aria answered in weak voice, as she restrained herself from screaming. It still hurt, even if lesser. _Although I can be killed by it as well..._

"White energon and dark energon don't agree to each other. If dark energon started to infect Aria's body, her white energon will fight the poisoning effect and flush the dark matter out of her body. But, the reaction is pretty painful for her," Ratchet explained.

"It's like white blood cell, huh...?" June couldn't believe it, just how many these children would receive? She already witnessed enough children suffering in front of her eyes.

"Now Aria, you're placed under treatment as well," Ratchet gently scooped the little girl up, and placed her right at Optimus' side.

"Hey father..." Aria glanced to the worried look of her father. "It's going to be alright, I'm tough little girl, you know...oww...!" she moaned and clutched her back in pain.

"Megatron found more of the dark stuff?" Jack guessed as he and Miko walked down the stairs.

"A whole volcano full," Arcee replied.

"But the question is, how?" Bulkhead questioned.

"No, the question is, what? As in, what in the world is the Blood of Unicron doing here on Earth?" Ratchet corrected.

"The 'Cons killed a unicorn?" Miko asked and she received weird look from all the Autobots, "White horse with a horn on its head? Prances around all sparkly?"

"No, not that one, Miko. Not with a horn, but _horns_," Aria corrected.

"Unicron. An ancient evil whose fossilized blood comprises the matter which we call dark energon. As legend would have it," Ratchet added.

"Also called the Chaos Bringer, being exiled by Primus himself right before the creation of Cybertron..." Aria murmured.

Optimus looked at his daughter strangely, just how she managed to know the old legend? Then, he thought that Aria must have obtained it from Arianna's memory, since the late sparkling once visited Hall of Record.

"So you're saying that this Unicron is some kind of boogeyman?" June assumed, once again gaining a weird look from Ratchet.

"Make believe big guy who hides in your closet," Miko clarified.

"No, Nurse Darby. Unicron is very real. Was…that is… While I do believe he once existed, I just don't describe to the theory that his primordial life force is the substance which harmed Raf," Ratchet trailed off.

Aria felt better as the dark energon inside her was expelled fully. But then, she received another voice.

_He did existed, in the past, and present. I shall not let him exist in the future..._

"I've heard enough. Jack, help me get Raf into the car," June requested before wheeling Rafael.

"Mom, I thought he was doing better!" Jack protested.

"Raf needs to be examined by real doctors. And Raf's family needs to know what happened," June retorted before adding, "His REAL family!"

"Mom, Raf's family can't protect him from dark energon and Decepticon forces. Not like the Autobots can!" Jack objected.

"June," Optimus started as Arcee helped him stand up, "It deeply grieves me that I failed. But I will do everything in my power to ensure that no harm to our human friends, or any other human ever again."

"Optimus, they're children. They do not belong in your world. They should be worrying about grades, prom dates, pimples! Not their own survival!" June stressed her point. "Including Aria, even if she's your daughter. She's still a child, she doesn't deserve to get involved in your war. You're coming with me. All four of you! And you WILL not coming back."

"Why me as well...?" Aria moaned in annoyance.

"That's it? After all we've been through together? See ya? What about our freedom to choose?" Miko clearly disliked it.

"That may be on their planet. But not here on Earth!" June cut in as she helped Raf inside of her car "Get in!"

"Do you really expect me to get into a non-transforming vehicle?" Miko scoffed.

"Miko, I'm serious," June warned the pigtail.

"You can't boss me around. You're not my mother!" Miko retorted.

"Miko..." Bulkhead tried to speak.

"Neither are you!" Miko cut in harshly, as she walked back.

"Miko, that may be true. And…thank you for at least respecting me. But Aria, you too need an emergency treatment, so come with me," June turned to the half Autobot ponytail.

"No, thank you," Aria replied politely. "This is my home, I can't abandon my father. You have to understand it, Nurse Darby."

"Fine. Jack, let's go," June turned to her son.

"I can't abandon my friends," Jack gave his answer. "I'm staying. I'm sorry."

June sighed in defeat. Really, those children were stubborn. She badly wanted to protect them so they didn't need to risk their young lives in the war. Sadly, she drove out of the base with Rafael in tow.

"_Prime! Do you copy?_" Fowler commed them all of the sudden.

"I hear you, Agent Fowler," Optimus answered as he walked forward.

"_Been watching the news? Mother Nature's got a twitch in her bridges," _the black agent asked again.

"We know about the volcano," Optimus said.

"_And the quakes? Seven major tremblers of the same magnitude at the exact same time as the volcanic eruption. All over the globe. On different tectonic plates. In theory, unrelated. If they hadn't happened…_"

"At the exact same time," Ratchet finished.

"That's...impossible..." Aria was startled.

"Check it out! More good news," Miko got all the attentions to the television.

"_Freak storms unlike any of the region has seen. Tsunamis threaten the Canadian coast while lightning storms pummel the Gobi Desert. Meanwhile, electromagnetic anomalies plague urban power grids. These abnormal global phenomena are leaving most to wonder: why now? And what next?_" the TV crew broadcasted.

"_Don't tell me your 'Cons have built a weather machine!_" Fowler demanded an answer.

"Sounds like Doraemon," Aria commented dryly. "You know, that blue robot cat with magical pocket?"

"One that powerful? Highly unlikely..." Ratchet argued.

"I do not believe the appearance of dark energon at this point in time to be coincidental," Optimus stated.

"You said it..." then something hit Aria's head. "Wait, do you say crazy weathers happening all over the world at _exact same time_?" the ponytail asked to Fowler again. "How about Jasper, Nevada?"

"_Well, it will be in exact same freaky condition anytime soon_," Fowler replied.

"Then, it will be bad, if we're outdoor, right...?" Aria wondered.

* * *

It was truly a bad choice for anyone, especially June who chose to drive outside at the nasty weather. As they left the Autobot base, the sky was dark and thunders were going crazy.

"You OK back there, Raf?" June asked to the boy.

"I saw lighting, I'm counting until the thunder..." Raf's explanation was cut off by a clap of thunder, causing them to flinch.

"Looks like a storm," June laughed nervously, "My garden will love it." But she certainly didn't love it when the thunder struck dangerously close to her car. As the thunder went even nastier, June desperately tried to gain control of her car. But it eventually spun around, and crashed to nearby pole.

"Raf, are you okay?" June asked, both passengers were clearly shaken. Not only the thunders, the wind was also going mad. When they looked forward, they had this horror. Tornado was closing in!

June looked at the tornado in disbelief, but she knew she had to do something fast. She tried to drive away, but it was in vain as the wind was too strong. "Come on, come on, come on!" When June finally began to reverse away form the power pole, the tornado began to lift them up. They were in grave danger now.

Until Bumblebee came into view, he transformed, and ran to grab the car. But, the nature force was strong, the small scout struggled to keep his balance. He grabbed nearby pole for support, and said something to the passengers.

"Bee wants us to climb into his hands," Rafael translated it.

Bumblebee did his best to hold the car, with his precious humans inside. But, the pole he grabbed finally gave up, and the yellow bot now grabbed the car with his both hands. Rafael and June were now sitting on the hood. Rafael gathered his courage, and slid into Bumblebee's hand. Before June could do the same, the car hood ripped off from Bumblebee's hand, much to their horror. Thankfully, June managed to haul herself up. As soon as they were secured inside, Bumblebee drove off and quickly returned to base.

"Thank you..." June still panted, but relieved. Bumblebee answered her.

"He says you're welcome," Rafael translated.

* * *

Pretty soon, for some reason dark energon crystal started to emerge around the volcano site. Decepticon miners were there to collect the purple crystal, the very thing that their master looked for desperately.

"Rivers of your very life blood! Rising from the depths to become one with me!" Megatron cried out, before he had another vision. This time, the explosions from the volcano were stronger than before. Purple cracks broke through the ground, spreading across the entire planet, eventually, as the cracks met each other...

The Earth exploded, destroyed...

* * *

Bumblebee drove inside the base with the passengers.

"We're back..." Rafael said nervously to the Autobots.

"And we are glad," Ratchet smiled, glad that they were safe.

"Mom," Jack ran to his mom. "Are you okay?"

"I will be. Jack..."

"Mom..."

"I know, me too," the nurse hugged the boy. "But you're grounded until you're 30."

Jack looked at his mom in shock.

"25," June corrected.

"_World leaders are classifying these bizarre weather patterns as a global emergency," _the TV news brought everyone's attention.

"Global?" June asked in disbelief.

"_And scientists believe the phenomena is somehow related to the current planetary alignment."_

"You gotta be right..." Aria murmured.

Just then, Fowler burst in. "What have you learned, Prime? And you better not blow smoke up my...!" he stopped in mid track as he spotted June. "Mrs. Darby? What a nice surprise."

"Special Agent Fowler," June greeted back.

"We have learned this. As with the so-called magma from the volcano, these earthquakes originated far below the Earth's crust. From the very center of the Earth's core, in fact," Ratchet began explaining.

"Quakes don't start there!" Fowler argued before turning to June. "Do they?"

"Tremors rising and falling in a consistent pattern. Almost like…," the medic hit something as he studied the wavelengths of the tremors, the realization slowly coming to him, "By the AllSpark! If I convert these data points to audio files…" he typed some more on his keyboard.

"What, what is it?" the black agent demanded.

"Listen..." the CMO whispered quietly as the audio was heard.

Much to everyone's confusion and shock, it was sound of a beat. When the audio continued, they realized that it was a heartbeat. Aria listened to it, and she got another vision. "_I've heard this kind of thing before...but when...?_" she thought to herself. The vision she got this time, she saw a giant monster in the dark, with purple eyes and horns everywhere.

_Unicron..._surprisingly, it was Aria's own voice sounded.

* * *

In the Nemesis, Soundwave was playing the sound of heartbeat as well.

"STOP IT SOUNDWAVE!" Megatron cried out. "I can still hear the pounding in my brain!"

* * *

"A Cybertronian heartbeat?" Jack asked.

"How's that possible?" June questioned. "A heart pumps blood. There's nothing inside the Earth to pump, except..."

"Blood of Unicron!" Rafael concluded.

"Blood of Unicron..." Aria whispered it. "Unicron..."

_He is here...he is always here..._

* * *

A demonic voice sounded from inside the Earth

**_I have awakened..._**

* * *

Inside Aria's body, something had awakened as well. Aria could feel it, as her white energon was acting strange, and she felt like she knew something. What, it wasn't clear yet. But, the girl wasn't freaking out, she was confused however. "_What is it that you tried to tell me...?"_ she asked to whatever inside her.

"Okay, hold on. You mean something's living down there? INSIDE our planet?" Miko asked in disbelief.

"I fear that the Earth's very core is not comprised of magma, as your scientists suggested. But of dark energon," Optimus explained.

"And if we're hearing his spark, then Unicron is the rising darkness the prophecy foretold," Ratchet added in.

"So how do we stop this thing from rising?" Fowler asked the crucial question.

"That, I'm afraid, was not foretold," Optimus replied sadly.

"How can something be in our Earth's core and be alive?" June was getting even more nervous.

"Such a thing is not unprecedented," Optimus sighed, and he decided to tell the legend.

"In the beginning, there was Primus and there was Unicron. One the incarnation of creation. The other of destruction. Primus possessed an ally on his own, the legendary Saint. For eons, Primus and Unicron battled. The balance of powers shifting between them more times than could be counted, even by the help of the Saint. Only by creating the Thirteen – the original Primes that proceeded me – and the Saint's sacrificing, was Primus finally able to defeat Unicron and cast him out. Primus became one with the very core of our plane, creating life through the Well of AllSparks for existing Cybertronians to bare. Unicron was never to be heard from again...until now."

"_Primus, the Thirteen, the Saint...?" _Aria recorded those words inside her mind, and she felt like she was close.

"A Saint?" June asked. "A holy Saint or some kind?"

"This Saint was believed to exist, unnamed, however," Optimus explained. "This Saint too, was never to be heard again, after he sacrificed his spark to defeat Unicron. This Saint was said to possess a power to overpower the darkness."

"Maybe we can find the home of this uber 'Con, dig our way down there and fill it with explosives," Fowler suggested a solution.

"And blowing our planet from inside out? No way!" Aria protested.

"Agent Fowler, I do not believe that the Earth became Unicron's home. But rather that with time and gravitational force, debris collected around the slumbering titan," Optimus stated.

"Forming your Earth itself," Ratchet finished, finally they had some answers.

"And he's only awakening now because of the magnetic pull created by the planetary alignment," Arcee added the theory.

"Okay...well, what happens now when Unicron wakes up from his billionaire nap?" Jack asked nervously.

"Yeah. Does he stretch and... KA-POW! Earth poofs to dust?" Miko guessed.

Optimus was silent for some moments. Concern was present on his faceplate.

"You don't know, do you...?" June asked.

"My guess is Unicron has consented physical form as we know it. Nonetheless, we must find a way to make sure that this force of nature never fully awakens. The fate of your planet depends on it," Optimus declared.

Hearing that a planet with innocent lives was threatened, finally, Aria had it. The very information, and memories, she desperately wanted to know. Of what was inside her body, and what she should accomplish. She had this visions.

_It was as Optimus told her before, Primus and Unicron were battling each other for long time. Even with the Saint's help, Unicron was way too powerful._

_"Even if I have the power to dominate the darkness, I do not possess the power to kill, but to protect my dear ones. Primus, he was the only one who could bring the end of the destroyer Unicron. I shall stay by his side, to protect him, even if the cost is my own mortal life..."_

_After that, the Thirteen were created, and with their help, the victory was a step ahead. Unicron was about to be defeated. But, at the cost of the Saint's very life._

_"I exist to protect, and it shall be forever. Even if my life goes dark one day, it will be sparked again one day. Even if I was a mortal, my soul will live forever. It was a promise I made with Primus and all of his disciples. To protect their lives, the universe...forever..."_

Aria finally knew it, of what slept inside her, and her very destiny. She finally could understand all of those things.

_That white energon, I wasn't born with it, neither were you. But, you were the one who earned it._

_The legendary Saint is the only one reborn, emerging upon the chaos, within the tainted world._

* * *

"Lord Megatron, our cargo hold is nearly filled with the dark substance. I recommend a retreat. The troops are growing weak from its effects," Airachnid reported to her master.

"And yet I grow stronger," Megatron smirked before turning to Airachnid. "Airachnid, you are in command until I return."

"Your return from where, master?" the spider bot asked curiously.

"From my audience with Unicron," Megatron answered as he walked away. He flew away to the volcano where the dark energon first erupted.

"I feel your presence. Share your very spark! I call on you as my lord and master, Oh Mighty Unicron!" Megatron spoke.

Pretty soon, a purple soul emerged from the volcano. Megatron could see the purple eyes from it.

**"****_Who would speak to me?_****"**

"Your servant most humble," Megatron answered as he knelt before him, "Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. And your very herald. The one who wielded the dark energon which binds us. To awaken you once again. The prophecy has been fulfilled! It is only the beginning of what we shall accomplish. Together! For you shall rule this planet and those who walk upon it through me!"

**_"Prideful fool! How dare you think yourself capable of summoning my life force! I rise because I deemed it my time!"_**

"Master! I did not mean to overstep," Megatron apologized, a very strange thing for him to do.

**_"Silence, worm! I have no need of your lowly assistance."_**

"Please, my lord. I exist only to serve you," somehow, Megatron was acting like Starscream.

**_"What is this I sense? The taint of Primus and the Saint?! Here?!"_**

"That is Optimus, the last of the Primes, and his daughter Aria. Our sworn enemies," Megatron declared as he stood on his feet.

"_**You swear loyalty to me. Yet you allow a Disciple of Primus and and the Saint to live?!"**_

"I will destroy them for you! Their screams will be heard!" Megatron declared.

_**"I grow weary of your prattle. Surely, if you had the power to destroy this Prime and the Saint, you would have done so already! I will deal with them myself!**_" with that, the Chaos Bringer disappeared.

Megatron stood over the volcano, he was pretty pissed. He wasn't going to let anyone got away after insulting him, even if it was the mighty Unicron.

* * *

"What a legendary Saint..." Aria murmured, after she finally realized it. "Why you just tell me about it now? And on top of that, why me?" she touched her chest, feeling the warm white energon inside.

* * *

Meanwhile, Optimus was walking toward a gorge on somewhere. He had some business with the Chaos Bringer. "Ratchet, this epicenter is consistent with the findings of the others. Its terrain is rich in aura," he commed back to base.

"So what does that tell us?" Fowler asked in confusion.

"It follows that the natural meddles in your Earth would be extensions of Unicron. His limbs, if you will," Ratchet answered.

"So he did have his morning stretch. Which is why these quakes happened," June commented.

"Optimus, I'm detecting a swell in Unicron's spark activity," Ratchet warned.

"Rest assure Ratchet, I will proceed with vigilance," the Prime replied, before turning around and surprised to see a face imprinted in rock.

_**"Do you know me, followers of Primus?"**_

"Unicron, the Chaos Bringer," Optimus identified.

"_**Good"**_with that, the face disappeared, the rocks around it crumbled away. A very big stone body of Unicron stepped out of the rocks. He was massive. _**"Now know me as Unicron. YOUR DESTROYER!"**_he attacked Optimus with his spiky arm. The Prime unsheathed his two blades to block the attack, and he stepped backwards.

"I humbly request your ear, Lord Unicron," Optimus stated.

_**"And what would a Prime be so compelled to say to me?"**_

"I make this appeal not for myself. But for this planet, which you constitute. And the beings who inhabit this world. The entire human race depends on you, Lord Unicron. For life, sustenance. Your resurrection will only result in the destruction of a species which evolved from the seeds of your very greatness," Optimus requested further.

_**"So this human kind of you, this Disciple of Primus speak, you consider them my progeny?"**_

"Indeed."

_**"PARASITES! They, too, shall know my wrathful hand. Once I am finished with you."**_Unicron brought up his palms, charged an purple electricity based on dark energon, his very blood. With that, he struck the last Prime and sending him rolling back. Optimus groaned in pain as his body sparked purple.

* * *

Just when Optimus was attacked by the purple lightning, Aria received the very same image on her head, and she gasped in horror. "Father...!"

"Aria, what is it?" Miko, who was standing on her side, asked in worry.

"My father..." Aria answered with shaky voice, but her face was...different. Different from the usual half Autobot. "He's in danger..." and again, the voice sounded inside her head.

_The Prime is in danger!_

_Power of mine is yours. Go to his side and protect him. Protect the Prime, and everyone you hold dear_

_It shall be my forever destiny, and shall be forever yours_

"_I have to protect the Prime, my father..._" that was Aria's own voice.

* * *

_**"The line of Primes has grown weak during my absence."**_

"No outcome is unevitable, but NOT ON THIS DAY!" Optimus declared as he stood up. That was it, he had to do it, to protect this planet.

Unicron was prepared to finish the last Prime once and for all. But then, he felt this familiar aura, and visibly winced.

"_**This aura...it's the Saint!"**_he growled, he really didn't like the presence. "_**Parthonus! The aura is weak, but you are definitely alive in this era! You still dare to intervene me with your mortal life?! I shall crush the last Disciple of Primus, and you, the mortal Parthonus, together with the parasites inhabiting my body!"**_

As Optimus stood up, he brought out his two blasters, and shot the stone Unicron to dust. But as the stone body crumbled away, more tremors on the ground. Soon, the stone body of Chaos Bringer emerged from the ground. Not just one, there were many.

"_**Yes, Disciple of Primus. On this very day. For Unicron may be one. But WE ARE UNICRON!"**_

* * *

Aria was still having this voice inside her head, but it didn't freak her out anymore. She just felt even more determinate for it.

_Protect the Prime, and all of your beloved ones, my child._

If it was her destiny, then so be it

* * *

To be continued...


	19. One Shall Rise 2

"_People protect what they love"_

_Jacques Yves Cousteau_

* * *

"Optimus! Have you recovered any further signs of Unicron's insurgence?_" _Ratchet called from the base.

_**"Unicron is power incarnate! **__And you, the last of the Primes, shall perish!"_voice of Unicrons filled the comm link.

"I'll take that as a yes," Ratchet confirmed.

"_**The Saint of Primus! Come here to face my wrath, and be destroyed!"**_the Chaos Bringer roared again.

"The Saint of Primus?" Jack asked in confusion.

"You mean, the one who helped Primus defeating him in first place?" Rafael asked as well. "I think Optimus said that Saint was already dead, sacrificing himself."

"I take it, Unicorn-I mean Unicron is still in his millennia old dream, he just awakened from millennia of naps after all..." Miko commented sarcastically.

Aria heard it, but she didn't need to hear it from the comm link. Because she already received a telepathy inside her head. It was some kind of invitation, from Unicron himself.

_Parthonus! I can smell your presence in the living world! You shall come to face me, before I put the end of the disciple of Primus..._

"Does it matter? We're on our way!" the medic put aside the minor problem, and ready to deploy back up.

"_Negative," _but Optimus held him back. "_Unicron cannot be defeated by sheer force! He wants me, Ratchet_!" Optimus was prepared for a fight on the other side "_This fight must mine alone_." With that, he deployed his two blasters, and retaliated as the bunch of Unicron avatars attacked him.

"No, you are not going to fight alone, father..." Aria murmured. She leapt off the platform couch area, transformed to her Autobot mode, and activated the GroundBridge herself.

"Aria, what are you doing?" Arcee asked in surprise.

"Go to the battlefield and help him, what else?" Aria replied back.

"Didn't you hear Optimus' order? He wanted all of us to stay put," Ratchet warned the girl.

"Ratch, our leader is in danger! Who cares about order and everything if he is...?!" Bulkhead was agreeing with the sea-green femme as well.

"No Bulkhead, as he instructed, all of you shall stay put," Aria cut in, surprisingly, her tone was in leader mode. "I will be the only one who head to battlefield."

Hearing that, everybody gasped in shock. "Aria, what are you thinking?!" Arcee was beyond worried, she wasn't going to let her young student facing danger all by herself.

"Didn't you hear? Unicron was calling the Saint of Primus to come and face him," Aria reasoned.

"Yeah, he was calling a dead bot!" Bulkhead said. "This Saint or whoever sacrificed his spark to scrap Unicron in first place."

"_Her_, Bulkhead," Aria began to explain. "The name of the Saint, was Parthonus the Protector. She was also called Parthonus the Origin White by Primus and the thirteen," she paused. "And as the name implies, this Saint was a White Cybertronian, a very first one to exist. That being said, Parthonus possessed the ability to counter the power of Unicron. She also proved herself in leadership, organizing, and tactical plan. That made her becoming Primus' most powerful 2nd in command."

"Wow..." everybody was speechless after such long explanation.

"So, that holy Saint was a woman? Sounds like Wonder Woman to me..." Fowler folded his arms.

"...How did you know all of that?" Arcee was curious.

"Arianna's memory?" Bulkhead guessed.

"No, those things weren't recorded in history..." Ratchet was also getting suspicious. "The female Saint' name was never mentioned in any documents..." he knew it very well, no one including Optimus had no idea of the Saint's name. But, the half Autobot girl somehow knew it, and the full history of Parthonus the Origin White as well. "The Origin White...?" Ratchet repeated the name, and he got the clue.

White Cybertronian was extremely rare, as white energon trait was proved not to be passed down by genetic. The rarity of White Cybertronian itself, could be explained by one theory.

"Aria...?!" Ratchet immediately worked on the theory, and he gasped in shock of realization. "Don't tell me you are...?!"

"_Was, _Ratchet," Aria confirmed it, then sighed. "Although, there are things I'm not being cleared yet..." she widened her eyes as her spark skipped a beat. She could sense it, every time Optimus, the last Prime, was being hurt by Unicron, she was feeling the sensation as well. "Excuse me!" Aria knew she couldn't waste her time, and rushed to offer Optimus a hand. She popped out her wheel, and headed to the portal.

"Aria!" Arcee was about to give a chase, but something stopped her. "Ratchet, I think you have some explanation of the things from before. What is it about?!"

"That girl..." Ratchet murmured in disbelief, as he also still couldn't believe it. "She is the reincarnation of the Saint of Primus, Parthonus the Protector..." his explanation brought a shock to everybody presented.

* * *

"You know what, I really disliked the idea that someone else was using my body..." Aria sighed as she wheeled through the GroundBridge. She already had enough of being controlled against her will. But this time, she didn't mind it. Because, if it was about protecting her dear ones, she would do anything for it. "Parthonus, nice to have you here. By the way, why did you just happen to wake up now?"

_Unicron's awakening triggered the awakening of my blood. Follow the guidance of your White spark, you shall go through it. Be careful with every action you take. Unicron obviously would not hesitate to eradicate you and all my heirs once and for all._

__"Yes, ma'am," Aria replied.

_And be careful with every decision you take. My blood, which flows through your vein and spark, contains a majestic power. With the awakening of Unicron, the sealed power had been unsealed. It is powerful, but not without the heavy price of using it. It already happened once. _

* * *

As Aria jumped out the portal, she deployed her swords, and just in time to shield her father from Unicron's attack. She slashed two avatars who were about to jump the Prime from behind. "Father!" she called out.

"Aria...?" Optimus couldn't believe his eyes, his daughter was there. He shot one more avatar and walked closer to her. Unfortunately, Unicron wouldn't give them some private time, so the two had to talk and smash at same time. "What are you doing here?! I have told you to stay behind!"

"I'm so sorry, father..." Aria replied. "If only I realized it earlier, I wouldn't let you fight all by yourself, against Unicron," she said as she deployed her right arm cannon, and shot a white blast to nearby avatar.

Strangely, all of Unicron avatars seemed to wince in pain after the white blast. Only one avatar remained on his feet, and he had this very outraged expression, toward Aria.

"**_Parthonus the White! You are in fact, already raised from the death, and being reborn one more time..."_ **the Destroyed stated with wrath.

"Yeah, I'm here..." suddenly, all of Aria's energon veins began to glow white bright, and her eyes also glowed in white as well. She stood protectively in front of Optimus, the thing that she was supposed to do.

Optimus widened his eyes as his daughter was surrounded in white aura, and he somehow recognized the aura as well. Then, it hit him, it was the aura of the legendary Saint. And Aria, was the reincarnation of that Saint, as the prophecy told. "The legendary Saint...Parthonus...?" he whispered in disbelief. "Primus..."

After observing the girl, Unicron smirked. _**"Such a fool action from a mortal White. You are reborn, within a sprout, an immature new born...**_**" **he realized that Parthonus in front of him was nothing more than a young, unexperienced sparkling. _**"I witness you carry the Blood of Parthonus, new born. But, you shall not bring me down with such immature power...**_**"**

"I don't need to, my job is not to snuff your spark, it's never destined to be my skill...or my old self's skill," Aria replied calmly.

Optimus watched in awe, as how his daughter transformed into somebody else. In front of him was standing the heir of Blood of Parthonus, the one who once existed in Primus' side.

_**"I have acknowledged everything about yourself, in the past and present, Parthonus. You always got in my way, preventing me from claiming Primus and all of his**_** disciples...****" **Unicron continued, as his dark aura got even stronger. _**"No exceptional even in present time. I shall bring the end of your life today with my own hands, mortal**_**_ White!_"**

Optimus knew it, Unicron was about to terminate him altogether with Aria. The ground started to shake even stronger. His fatherly instinct told him to reach Aria and protect her. "Aria, return to base, you have to get away from here immediately!" he absolutely was worried about his daughter's safety.

"No father, I will stay here, and help you," Aria turned to face her father, then she smiled. "I may be unexperienced in slaying this big bull, but you know that I'm not going down without a good fight."

Optimus widened his eyes, but he was relieved of one thing. Even if she was the reincarnation of Parthonus, Aria was still Aria. The last Prime could sense the strong will of his daughter, as well as the power of the Saint inside her. He knew it was her destiny, and he nodded an approval to the sea-green femme.

"So, let's roll!" Aria smirked, she was surprised as the white energon inside her pumped up. Parthonus was right about giving the girl her mighty power.

All the Unicron stone avatars emerged from the ground and attacked the duo. Optimus and Aria leapt to opposite directions, and they faced all of Unicrons without fear. Aria was proven to be very dangerous, as she could destroy one stone avatar to dust with a single shot. Her firepower, speed and close combat ability increased greatly. On the other side, the last Prime shot a cliff above the Unicrons. As the cliff fell down, it crushed every avatars beneath it.

"FATHER!" Aria cried out, Optimus was falling to lower cliff. But much to her relief, Optimus was still intact. The sea-green femme jumped down as well to assist her father. But before she could reach him, she was shocked as one Unicron was about to fire the purple lightning to the Prime. "NO!" something told her to reach out her hand. As Aria stretched her hand, a white wave travelled out of her body and deflected the lightning away. "Father!" she was reunited with her father, but she felt sharp pain on her right hand.

"ARIA!" Optimus was alarmed as his daughter cried in pain.

"I'm okay..." Aria noticed that her right hand was smoking. She got it, whatever she did just now, it protected Optimus from harm but also did damage to her body. "Great power comes with a price huh..." she muttered.

They didn't have the time to chat, as more Unicrons emerged. Both father and daughter put their backs to each other, and they started to shoot at every avatars. But, few Unicrons attacked them from behind, and held their bodies. Optimus struggled to break free from their grasps, so did Aria.

"Let...me...go!" Aria did everything she could, including heating up her white energon and brought out more white aura around her body. But, Unicron was proved to be too strong for her. Aria exchanged worried and tense look to her father.

One Unicron jumped in between them. He already had a plan in mind. Both of his captives were his sworn enemies, and he should kill them both. But about who first, he already made up his mind. He walked to the sea-green femme.

"ARIA!" Optimus widened his eyes in horror. "Unicron, this is between me as Prime and you! Parthonus whom my daughter is reincarnated to, is just a helping hand!" he struggled even harder, his second daughter's life was in danger.

_**"Which means, she has to be ended first. This newborn is carrying a Blood of Parthonus, and her power..."**_Unicron was getting even closer to the girl. _**"After I rip your mortal body, I shall absorb your spark and soul, so there is no meaning for you to be reborn again, Parthonus the Origin White!"**_

Aria stared at the purple eyes. She knew very well that Unicron hated Parthonus so bad. Hell no she would back down from the Chaos Bringer. But as Optimus said, and Parthonus herself told her, Aria didn't have the power to defeat Unicron as Primus did. As Unicron raised his blade to her, Aria just shut her eyes, bracing herself.

"NO!" Optimus cried out. Aria was his last daughter, his last family. After Arianna, would he lose Aria too?

Apparently no, as a GroundBridge portal opened, and reinforcement arrived. Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee jumped out of the portal and started firing to the Unicrons. They were on time to save Aria from being slaughtered. Aria proceeded to scrap all the Unicrons holding her superior and her beloved student.

"Miss Arcee...?!" Aria finally could free herself from the avatars, and she started to fight the Unicrons again. She couldn't believe it, her teammates disobeyed Optimus' order and followed to battlefield.

Optimus advanced to his daughter, he punched every avatars on his way. "Aria!" he finally wrapped his arms around the young femme's body. "Are you okay, my dear?"

"I've had worse, father," Aria smiled.

"Did Ratchet not relay my commands? Return to base!" Optimus ordered his team.

_**"Reinforcements will not prevent your destruction, Disciple of Primus and Incarnation of Parthonus!"**_

"Optimus, you and Aria are Unicron's targets! Maybe you two should consider returning to base!" Arcee reasoned.

"The manifestation of Unicrons can locate us anywhere on Earth. Even if our base is shielded, it will only cloak our position for so long. I will not put the others at risk," Optimus argued back, even though he really wanted to send Aria back to the base. But, he knew that the hatred of Unicron toward Parthonus could make the girl even more transparent to the Chaos Bringer.

"Then fall back and let us take the lead. Just this once," Bulkhead suggested.

"_Please! Listen to reason!_ _If you two don't survive, Optimus, Aria, I fear neither will this planet_," Ratchet pleaded the Prime and the Saint incarnation.

Optimus knew that Ratchet had the point. "...Very well..." he stated, as his team stood protectively in front of their leader. It was presented on their eyes, they were willing to put their lives on front line, for Optimus.

"Let's move!" Arcee instructed as she took the lead. She dashed to upper cliff and shooting every Unicron avatar in the way. She was followed closely by her teammates and leader. Bulkhead was watching Optimus' back as they made their run.

"Aria, stay close to me!" Optimus ordered the girl on his side.

"You too, father. I'm your guardian after all," Aria replied.

The team made their way to upper ground, the Autobots turned into vehicle and Aria just popped out her wheels. They ran every leg of stone avatars, eventually made them crumbling to the ground. Aria continued to fire with her white blasts. She had this very bad vibe, as she could sense the hatred of Unicron in her spark.

Pretty soon, more bigger rocks crumbled down, revealing a Unicron which was taller than World Trade Center. All the Autobots stopped in their track, and they just couldn't believe of what they saw.

"You surely don't want to play games, do you Unicron...?" Aria commented dryly.

_Is that the real one? _Bumblebee asked.

"No, not Unicron himself. But another of his manifestations," Optimus answered.

"If we can't beat Unicron and we can't outrun him, what exactly are we supposed to do?" Bulkhead asked in desperation.

"What we CAN do, neutralize his vessels as they appear, until we find the way to destroy him without destroying the very Earth upon which we walk," Optimus said as he deployed his blasters.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee transformed to vehicle mode and tried to sneak from giant Unicron's back. As they reached their destination, they transformed to bipedal mode and started firing the giant legs. But for the big giant, it was nothing more than a bee sting. Unicron turned around, and prepared to strike. The Autobots duo tried to retreat, but Unicron managed to reach them after all. With his spiky arm, he swept the two just like a broom.

Arcee was running on his side and firing his arm at the same time. Again, the giant raised his blade, prepared to deliver the deadly blow to the blue femme. Arcee transformed to motorcycle and trying to get away as fast as she could. But she too, was unable to escape Unicron's mighty blow. It struck her powerfully like a ton of rocket missiles.

But the third attack, seemed to penetrate Unicron's mighty defense a little bit. It was Aria, she was engulfed in white aura, and she delivered these white waves to punch Unicron's body.

_**"Parthonus...you are proved to be capable standing against me, despite your immature physical form...**_**" **Unicron was sounded a bit pleased. But he knew, that however young this girl might be, he had to treat her as a threat, and getting rid of her soon. So, Unicron raised his blade and this time, he was about to give everything he had to crush the young femme.

"I've had worse than this, believe me," Aria pumped every last of her white energon. "So, just give it everything you've god, big bull...!" her fists were engulfed in bright white aura. As Unicron's blade came down, she just blocked it with her white fists. It apparently worked, as the little femme was able to withstand the strike which was equal to thousands tons.

"Wow..." Bulkhead and Bumblebee just regained their consciousness a little bit, and they were impressed by what they saw.

* * *

Back on the base. Ratchet was in tense moment.

"What a massive amount of white energon signal..." in his monitor, a big circle of white energon pattern was formed. "Aria...you are truly the reincarnation of the Saint, Primus' ally in the past..."

"I just can't believe it, you know," Miko commented. "Aria is the legendary Saint, and all these times, she hasn't told us a thing!"

"What I strongly believe is, Aria herself didn't acknowledged the presence of Parthonus' spirit in her soul, until the awakening of Unicron triggered the awakening of the Saint as well," Ratchet gave his argument. "But every things that I witnessed until now, it all could make sense, and this information alone could fill the gap in Cybertronian history. About the lost and forgotten Saint, that is," the medic said again.

* * *

"AAAGH!" eventually, Aria couldn't hold it much longer. She too, was punched away by the sheer power. She was still conscious, but her body refused to move after that.

_**"How pitiful you are now, Parthonus,"**_Unicron said with an evil laugh. _**"To be reborn in such young and fragile form..."**_

Aria just happened to know that her actions just now drained her stamina greatly. She realized, even she inherited the mighty power of Parthonus the White, her young physical form wasn't meant to contain it yet. But as she looked up, Unicron moved on, attempted to crush the little femme with his feet. Aria did everything she could to move her very exhausted body. "Scrap...!"

Optimus charged in to protect his daughter. He leapt and scooped Aria's body out of harm's way. After that, he deployed his blasters and proceeded to shoot Unicron's leg.

_**"FOOL!"**_Unicron struck his blade to ground and flung several big rocks toward Optimus. The Prime tried to dodge all of it, but the rocks eventually fell on top of him and burying him underneath.

"FATHER!" Aria cried out, but she just didn't have any stamina left even to stand up. She knew she had little choice to do, she had to do her very last resort. The girl used her ability to charge up and restore her stamina from inside.

_**"I am this world's past and its future. And as of this moment…"**_Unicron moved forward and was about to step on Optimus with his foot. _**"All Primes are simply past…"**_

"NO!" Arcee cried out.

But something stopped Unicron. His head was shot by something. With no head, the giant Unicron crumbled down, and Optimus was eventually spared. All of the Autobots were dumbfounded, who was it?

_Wasn't me_ Bumblebee bleeped.

"Me neither," Bulkhead said. "You?" he asked to sea-green femme.

"Not me," Aria said.

"Ratchet!" Arcee commed the base.

"_What is it? What happened?_"

"I happened!" the voice they heard came from Megatron, who was standing on top of Unicron remains. The Decepticon leader leapt off the rocks and landed in front of the four Autobots.

"Megatron?!" Bulkhead shouted in surprise. He and the three others stood their fighting position immediately.

* * *

"King Con's there too?" Miko commented.

"He's aligned himself with Unicron," Ratchet stated.

"_Don't be so sure. Megatron just saved Optimus' tailpipe," _Arcee reported.

Everyone gasped in shock, especially Ratchet.

* * *

As Optimus freed himself from the rubble, Megatron was already standing in front of the Prime. He first aimed his blaster to the Autobot, which made Arcee and the three others deployed their own blasters. But Megatron wasn't about to shoot, instead, he offered his hand to Optimus.

Optimus first was surprised, but he took the hand, and with Megatron's help, he stood back up. His first thought after that, was Aria. "Aria...!" he found her standing in Arcee's side. Optimus immediately rushed to her side and checked over his daughter. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good. How about you?" Aria smiled, and much to her father's surprise, all of the girl's injury was healed.

"I am fine, my dear," Optimus was relieved.

"It is rather ironic. Considering our last encounter. If memory serves, you were desperately attempting to extinguish my spark," Megatron recalled.

"That option remains very much in play," Optimus said as he shielded Aria with his body. There was no way he could let Megatron being too close to his daughter.

"I would expect nothing less," Megatron smirked. "However, I have a proposal. Join me in defeating our shared enemy, Unicron the Chaos Bringer." The Decepticon tyrant said something that everyone less expected.

"_Ha! Absurd! Unicron is evil incarnate! If Megatron was to take any side, why would it be ours_?" Ratchet was skeptical.

"Because Megatron's pride would never allow anyone than himself to rule this planet," Optimus stated the reason.

"That, if we allow him for it," Aria scoffed.

"You know me all too well, Optimus," Megatron was pleased.

"You lead a whole army of 'Cons. Why come to us?" Bulkhead asked.

"Because this particular mission requires something beyond the realm of my command. The power of a Prime and the protection of the Saint," Megatron pointed to Optimus and Aria.

"The name was Parthonus, in case it's not clear," Aria clarified.

"On the contrary, Optimus and his daughter may be the only ones who can defeat Unicron. But I remain to be the only ones who can guide you to him. Unicron's lifeblood runs through me. I am the only ones who can feel his thoughts and anticipate his movements," Megatron retorted, "Optimus, our past alliances, Autobot, Decepticon, no longer matter. Not while Unicron lives."

* * *

Back in the base, Ratchet wasn't pleased at all by the turnout. "THE PAST ALWAYS MATTERS!" he banged to his keyboard.

* * *

"A truce between Autobots and Decepticons. How long do you expect us to believe that will last?" Optimus asked.

"Only as long as is mutually beneficial," Megatron responded.

"And after our mission is compete?" Aria asked next.

"I will conquer this Earth, my way," Megatron answered easily.

"I knew it..." Aria stated.

"Brutal honesty from a Decepticon?" Arcee commented dryly.

_"Aligning with the lesser of two evils is still siding with evil_!" Ratchet continued to argue, he was clearly not in same argument.

"Ratchet, listen, do you think we have other options right now?" Aria tried to reason with the medic.

"Do you two seriously think that you've witnessed the full power of Unicron? Those foot soldiers were nothing more than a taste! Unicron is yet to fully awaken!" Megatron told them. "With each passing moment, the Bringer of Chaos evolves. Mutating Earth from the inside out. What we have witnessed until now is but a prelude of the utter devastation his rising will reek upon your world."

"Like your quest for power destroyed Cybertron?!" Arcee snapped.

"Make no mistake! This time, there will be a planet left for me to rule!" Megatron retorted.

"How touche," Aria insulted with no fear.

"Even if we agree, Unicron's all the way down at the center of the Earth. How are we supposed to get there? Drive?" Bulkhead asked the important question.

"There is only one way," Optimus gave the hint.

"_Absolutely not!_ _GroundBridging into space or onto moving trains was difficult enough! But plotting a blind jump INSIDE a sentient being_?" Ratchet got the hint eventually. "_Besides, exposing yourself to that much Dark Energon will debilitate you! Neither of you have built up an immunity like Megatron has_!"

"I have it, Ratchet," Aria replied. "I can create dark energon-proof protective shield for father and the others," Aria demonstrated it by engulfing her palm in white aura.

"_You want to sacrifice your stamina and white energon at the same time?!"_

Aria widened her eyes, as the medic could figure it out. "...Ratch...you studied my biomechanic all too well..."

"Yet another strong argument for soliciting my guidance..." the tyrant replied.

"You can guide us to Unicron's exact coordinates?" Optimus asked, he decided to accept Megaton's terms.

"If you can transport us to this planet's core, I can directly lead you into Megatron's spark. The very heart of his darkness," Megatron said.

"Optimus, even if we survive the jump, how are we supposed to stop Unicron?" Arcee finally asked the crucial question.

Optimus was silent for some moment. "With the Matrix of Leadership."

Aria widened her eyes for this statement. "Father, you can't be serious about that...!" she faced her father directly.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, my daughter," Optimus replied. "You too, should know that thing pretty well."

* * *

"What is that?" Fowler asked back in the base.

"A vessel of pure energy. The collective Wisdom of the Primes," Ratchet replied.

"Do we have time for a scavenger hunt?" Jack questioned. "I mean, where is Optimus meant to find this Matrix?"

"Optimus does not need to find this Matrix. He carries the Matrix of Leadership within him."

* * *

"It was the combined power of the Primes that defeated Unicron so long ago. The very reason he seeks to destroy you," Megatron explained.

"It would follow that unleashing the power of the Matrix into Unicron's spark would return him to stasis," Optimus completed.

"But let us not forget, that the Primes in the past could not do it without Parthonus acting as their defense. In fact the Saint herself, sacrificed her own spark so the Primes could banish Unicron to the space." He turned his attention to the girl.

"So you know it as well..." Aria stated.

"As I said, with dark energon flowed in my vein, I can hear Unicron's very thought. That also means, I already knew of another Unicron's rivalry with your former self, Parthonus the Origin White," Megatron responded. "I also knew, on how Parthonus met her end."

"I know it, even better than you do," the sea-green femme clenched her fist.

Optimus widened his eyes as it struck him. Aria was Parthonus' reincarnation, it meant that his daughter inherited the Saint's divine protection ability, as well as...her destiny.

Aria could feel that Optimus stared at her in pure shock and worry. She turned around, and smiled to reassure her father. "Rest assure, father," then she turned to Megatron again. "I won't go down without a good fight."

"Well well, what a tenacious and courageous femme we have here..." Megatron admitted that he was impressed. "Optimus, I admit that you did a good job on raising your sparkling..."

* * *

"Okay, trivial matters aside!" Miko cut in. "If everything goes 'right', Unicron's gonna stay down there?"

"Yeah. Can't we syphon him out somehow?" Jack asked.

"He's not IN the Earth's core, Jack. He IS the Earth's core," Raf stepped in.

"Rafael is correct. Tampering with your core could effect the magnetic pulls. Triggering the very cataclysmic effects we are attempting to remedy. Tragically, Unicron is your planet's very seed. Always has been. And always must be," the Autobot CMO said regretfully.

* * *

"I think he's waking up now..." Aria commented, as she could feel it. But the others also knew it, as the rocks on their feet rolled all by themselves. The giant Unicron was rebuilding himself and standing up once again.

"Ratchet, send a GroundBridge!" Optimus requested as he pulled his daughter close to him. Not for long, the green portal opened.

"Wait!" Arcee interfered. "We're opening a direct path into our base with Megatron standing right there?"

"And seriously? He's gonna risk his own spark to save us?" Bulkhead added.

Megatron laughed as the respond. "Hardly my nature! Consider my offer, I shall keep him busy," the tyrant said as he transformed to jet, and began to raid the big giant.

"Father..." Aria asked to her father.

"I know, my dear," Optimus nodded.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the Nemesis...

No word yet from Lord Megatron?" Airachnid asked Soundwave. "It appears that our leader haas abandoned us. While this world erupts in chaos. I'm afraid we have to consider the possibility of a future. WITHOUT Megatron."

* * *

"I know that desperate times call for desperate measures. But bringing Megatron HERE?" Ratchet was still not in agreement.

"How can you even THINK about letting that monster near the children after what he did to Raf?" June was in same thinking as the Autobot medic.

"He will be closely monitored. And only allowed to linger long enough to send us on our journey. Not one moment more," Optimus promised.

"What's gonna stop the 'Cons from calling in an air strike if they know where you live?" Fowler asked.

"When we GroundBridge Megatron here, the transportation will render him unable to obtain a fix on our coordinates," Aria added.

"Optimus, Aria, what's gonna happen to you two when you unleash the Matrix and use some of your powers?" Jack questioned.

"The power within the Matrix have not previously been utilized in this particular manner," Optimus answered honestly.

"But you have an idea, don't you? How about Aria?" Jack asked further.

"Parthonus hasn't revealed everything to me either," Aria sighed in defeat. "So, I also have no idea..."

"Autobots, if humankind is to be saved, I and Aria have no choice but to proceed. But you do," Optimus announced, asking for his team's choice.

The other Autobots were deep in thought. They did know that they had to save the Earth, their home planet, at any cost. All of the Autobots glanced to their human friends, with that they made up their mind.

"Well, I don't know about humankind. But I'm willing to do it…for Miko," Bulkhead said.

"For Jack," Arcee added.

_For Raf _Bumblebee added as well. With that, they all finally reached an agreement.

"So, we bring the navigator here?" Aria asked the final question

* * *

Megatron was still busy fighting with the giant Unicron. At last, the transmission from Optimus came in.

"_Megatron, we are sending transport._"

"You can always be relied upon to listen to reason, Optimus," the Decepticon leader complimented. A GroundBridge portal opened in front of him, and Megatron stepped in.

* * *

"No fair! I've never seen him!" Miko protested as Ratchet and Aria shoved her away from the command center with Jack, Raf, June and Fowler, "Why do we have to hide?"

"Because I said so," Ratchet received no argument.

"It's for your own safety, Miko," Aria added.

The bridge on the other side had opened. All the Autobots lined up behind Optimus, they were preparing themselves as the Decepticon leader was about to enter. They all had to be extra careful with the tyrant. As Megatron appeared in front of them, all Autobots deployed their cannons, in case something went wrong.

"So this is where the magic happens. Quaint," Megatron commented as he looked around the Autobot base.

The five humans were peeking to the scene to feed their own curiosity. Rafael decided to walk forward and met Megatron directly.

"Raf, NO!" Jack tried to stop the glasses boy.

"Raf, stay back!" Aria put herself in front of the boy with her cannon pointed to Megatron.

"Ah, you are looking much better than the last time we met, little one. Humans, resilient," Megatron made a remark.

"Come on Raf, he isn't worth it," Jack told the younger boy, and June gently pulled Rafael away.

"And you," Megatron turned to Jack, "I never forget a face. Even that of a human."

"You double cross anyone, mine is the face you'll never forget! NEVER!" Miko decided it was her turn, and she used her chance pretty well, before Fowler pulled her away.

Aria couldn't help but being amused by Miko's antics. She surely had guts to face Megatron and sent a death threat directly.

"Ratchet, obtain the destination coordinates from our guests," Optimus requested. When Ratchet and everybody else were watching Megatron who was about to activate GroundBridge, Optimus followed Jack. "Jack," Optimus kneeled down to see the boy. "Will you keep something for me?"

"Sure," Jack nodded.

Optimus took something in card shape. He first shrunk it to the size Jack could handle.

"What is it?" the boy asked.

"It is…the key to the GroundBridge power supply," Optimus gave the answer.

"Okay but, shouldn't Ratchet have this?" Jack was confused.

"Perhaps. But I've been impressed by how much you have matured since we first met. As such, I feel you have earned the responsibility of safeguarding this device until you have returned," Optimus answered.

"I promise I wouldn't let you down," Jack replied firmly.

Meanwhile, the GroundBridge directed to Earth's core was already activated.

"Locked and ready, Optimus," Ratchet said.

"You first," Arcee stated to Megatron. Surprisingly, Megatron bowed down politely to the femme and walked to the portal. Arcee frowned to Megatron's antic. She casted a last glance to their human friends, and they walked to the portal. "Aria, I want you to tell me something," Arcee asked to the sea-green femme at her side. "I recalled Megatron said something about, how Parthonus met her end."

"Something bothers you, Miss Arcee?" Aria asked back.

"According to the legend, the Saint sacrificed her own life to defeat Unicron," Arcee added. "And now, we're facing pretty much same scenario. I want to know, if this time will be in the same story."

Aria finally knew what her mentor was about to mention. "Well, Miss Arcee...I can't be sure yet. I'm not Parthonus myself, after all..."

"You will make it, won't you?" Arcee decided to ask her directly.

"My father will sacrifice anything in order to save the Earth, I will do the same, if the time calls for it," Aria stated, rather than replying.

* * *

There they were, the core of the Earth. No light penetrated the body of Unicron, only darkness everywhere. Dark energy veins spread everywhere, with crossed path connecting each corners. It was a creepy place, as if they were being watched by the wall.

Aria immediately knew what she had to do. She charged up her palms with white aura, and delivered it to cloak all of her teammates except Megatron, of course.

_What is this? _Bumblebee asked as he felt the warm wave entered his body.

"Your protection against dark energon exposure, it can heals you when you're injured as well," Aria said, as she too, was engulfed in white aura. "Sorry but I don't have any stock for you," she told Megatron.

Megatron didn't reply, just grinned at the White Autobot.

"How about you? You're weak against dark energon too, even worse," Bulkhead asked in concern.

"Don't worry, I won't be affected by it, as long as it stays out of my white energon system," Aria said.

"So…how long before Unicron knows we're here?" Arcee asked Megatron.

"Make no mistake. He already does," Megatron answered her question.

It was true, Unicron already knew that something invaded his body. His aura travelled through the chamber, sending a shiver to their spine. All the Autobots braced themselves to it, as they had very important task to do.

"He does..." Aria murmured, as she had this very bad vibe. "As usual, he sets his eyes to me first..."

He looked at them, with his purple eyes filled with hatred and darkness...

* * *

To be continued...


	20. One Shall Rise 3

_"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power"_

* * *

Unicron's body was the very last place anyone wanted to enter, including the Autobots. Megatron did his job as navigator, as he took the lead in front of Optimus and everybody else. Suddenly, Megatron received another vision, and caused him to fall on his knees. He saw the destruction of Earth, by Unicron's full awakening. But, there was one hitch, the presence of the White Cybertronian, the reincarnation of Parthonus.

"Unicron grows even stronger..." Megatron commented after that. "The only thing that keeps him from being awakened anytime soon, is you," he pointed to Aria.

"Yeah, why do you think I keep this things on my body?" Aria's energon veins still glowed bright white, she was using her ability to the limit. "I will surpress Unicron's dark matter with my white aura. So all you need to do is, hurry up and show us the place."

"I know what I am doing," Megatron walked closer to Aria. As expected, Optimus moved in to shield his daughter.

"Megatron, while our alliance is still in place, I suggest you to keep your distance," Optimus warned. In any situation, Optimus wouldn't ever let Megatron being near Aria.

Megatron knew that if he took one step closer, Optimus would behead him without hesitation. "Well well...I only want to say something to her. Make sure you too, know what you are doing, Aria," it was pretty creepy to hear Megatron saying your name.

Aria didn't reply, she just watched as Megatron continued forward.

"How do we know Unicron isn't using Megatron to lead us all into a trap?" Arcee asked, as she wasn't trusting Megatron at all.

"We do not," the Prime simply replied as he followed his nemesis.

"Relax, Miss Arcee. Megatron is all intact for now, at least..." the sea-green femme reassured her idol.

"How do you know?" the older femme.

"Unicron wants my spark, he hates my blood of white energon. Just like you hate Airachnid, for example," Aria replied. "If Unicron is possessing Megatron, that bucket head would get my head already. And all of your heads too."

Arcee got her junior's point, but she deployed her cannons for safety measure.

* * *

Back in the base, the situation wasn't any better. They were all in tense and anxious moment. They tried to pass the time by watching TV news, but because of the storm, the TV's power line was cut.

"So, who wants to play a game?" June suggested, but the kids weren't interested in it.

"That tears it!" Fowler was even worse.

"Where are you going?" the nurse asked.

"I can't just sit on my hands while the world spins out of control!" Fowler yelled in frustration.

"And what exactly is it that you intend to do?" Ratchet asked.

"Anything! Hook up with my boys at the Pentagon! Figure out a way to bury that monster for good!" somehow, the agent was losing his healthy mind out of frustration.

"In the event Optimus can't?" the CMO asked again.

"Don't you mean Optimus and Megatron?"

"No one here is thrilled about this arrangement, Agent Fowler. Myself included. But with Optimus and Megatron together again..." Ratchet responded.

"Wow, what? Again?" Jack cut in.

"Megatron was an Autobot?" Rafael asked.

"Optimus was a Con?" Miko was next.

"No, on either count. But there was a time, back on Cybertron, in the twilight hours of the Golden Age where Optimus and Megatron were not sworn enemies," Ratchet began to tell the story

"Do you recall when I said Optimus wasn't always a Prime? Well, he wasn't always Optimus either. He was once a clerk in the Iacon Hall of Records named Orion Pax. But as he learned more about Cybertron's past, he grew increasingly concerned about the present corruption in high places and inequality among the masses.

Orion became inspired by the words of a gladiator. One who had named himself after one of the Thirteen Original Primes: Megatronus. Megatronus vowed to challenge Cybertron's leadership and demand that all Cybertronians be treated as equals. This gladiator turned revolutionary rapidly gained a loyal following. Soundwave chief among them. Orion began corresponding with Megatronus. who came to be something of a mentor to him. As Megatronus left the gladiatorial ring for the political, he saw fit to shorten his name.

Before long, Megatron appeared before the High Council to propose his visions, for a just society. And it was here that he began to show his true colours. Proclaiming the need to overthrow the old guard with force and arrogantly demanding to be named the next Orion did not believe in violence as a means of achieving justice. The sparks and minds of the Council and the royal family were moved by Orion's words. Here, for the first time since Cybertron's Golden Age, stood someone worthy of being a Prime. But that honor could only truly be achieved by earning the legendary Matrix of Leadership.

His ambitions thwarted, Megatron spitefully severed all ties with Orion, the Council and the royal family and came to rage war on all who apposed him through his growing army of followers which he named Decepticons. In time, warfare consumed Cybertron. Poisoning the planet to its core. He vowed to claim the Matrix for himself wherever it may lie. Orion journeyed there, hoping to reverse the ill effects on the core and found himself before the very spark of our life giver, Primus, himself. The ailing Primus sensed the innatiability within Orion and bestowed the Matrix upon him. It was thus that a surprised and humbled Orion Pax came to be Optimus: the Last of the Primes."

"So Optimus got the Matrix from Cybertron's core. And now he's gonna give it to Earth's?" Miko questioned further.

"What's to stop Megatron from just claiming the Matrix for himself this time around?" Jack wanted to know.

"Only his greatest desires to save this planet so that he may in turn conquer it. As he so compellingly argued, providing the Lord of the Decepticons and can ever be fully trusted," Ratchet answered. "And we shall not fear as long as Aria is around. The duty of the Saint is to protect the line of Primes. Aria, inherited the very same duty."

* * *

"Unicron's spark is near..." Megatron said as they arrived at very big ballroom, with dark energon veins acting as bridges. They could hear a sparkbeat, albeit faintly.

"After you," Arcee 'politely' let the Decepticon leader to move first.

Megatron compelled by taking the lead, and followed closely by Optimus, then the rest of the team.

And as they crossed a purple bridge, the rest of the team felt like suffocating.

"The dark energon aura is pretty strong here," Aria stated, as her white energon vein glowed even brighter.

"Really?" Bulkhead asked, as he got pretty nervous.

"Yeah but rest assure, my protective shields are on stand by," the sea-green femme said, although she started to feel bit nauseous.

Arcee also noticed it, even if the air there was suffocating, she and everybody else felt just fine. The blue femme was just amazed by how magical the power of the Saint.

Suddenly, Aria gasped in shock as she felt the piercing eyes of Unicron. "Oh no, this is bad...!" she looked around nervously.

"He's preparing to expel us," Megatron warned, as he too could feel it.

They heard very weird squealing sound, creatures shaped like bat with dark energon started to emerge and swarmed the area. All the Cybertronians presented prepared their weapons.

"What are those things?!" Bulkhead asked.

"As we are inside Unicron's body, it stands to reason they are some sort of antibody," Optimus answered.

As the antibody bats started to attack them, they started to fire back as well. They weren't that hard to be defeated, but they were way, way too many. In fact, those bats might be unlimited. Optimus and the others took several shots from the bats, but white light engulfed their injured spots and patched them up. Arcee even took a salt jump to kick some bats as she landed on lower bridge.

"HIYAH!" Aria were busy as well. She first thought she would expel her white aura to sweep all the antibody bats. But, her stamina wasn't unlimited. "Parthonus, can you really blame me for still being young...?" she asked mentally. Her stamina was drained greatly as she had to maintain her friends' protective cloaks.

_You okay? _Bumblebee who was standing on Aria's side, noticed that the girl was woozy.

"I'm...fine..." Aria panted and gasped for air. She was already exhausted, and so, she failed to notice two bats from her back, they started to pounce her from behind. "Don't touch me, freaks!" she fell forward, but then she used the white aura to shoo the bats off. As her stamina was drained even more, the girl struggled to stand up.

"Aria, hold on," Bulkhead helped the girl. He was being shot again by the bat, but the spot was healed in instant. The green bot felt like they were in luck to have the legendary Saint on their side. But, the sea-green femme's condition was concerning. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah...don't worry about me..." Aria decided to burn her energon once more, and restored her stamina. That was another ability inherited by Parthonus, but it came at a cost. "_To protect my dear ones, I'm ready to sacrifice everything...!_" Aria told herself.

For Optimus, it was like a dream coming true. He was fighting side by side with Megatron, the one who was currently his nemesis, but once being so close as brother to him. For the first time ever since the war started, two nemesis put aside their differences and fought on same side, and protecting each other's back. But as Optimus turned around to check his teammates, he spotted his daughter was having trouble staying on her feet. Concerned, he left Megatron's side and checked over Aria.

"Father...?" true, that girl was clearly exhausted.

"Aria..." Optimus immediately threw his hand to shield his daughter from another shot. The shot injury on his arm, as expected, was being healed instantly. "My dear, release your protective shields!"

"No!" the girl shook her head.

"The divine protection ability of Parthonus clearly takes a heavy toll on you. Your physical form is not matured enough to withstand it! Your life is at risk!" Optimus stated.

"Maybe, but I cannot afford any of your lives being at risk, except one of course," Aria referred to Megatron, like hell she would risk her life for the Decepticon leader. "Just don't worry about me, father." The girl closed her eyes, and once again she restored her stamina by burning her white energon. "See, I will be fine."

Pretty soon, they moved on to the spark chamber of Unicron. Arcee followed the group by riding one bat and blasting it off once she reached the top side. They immediately moved forward.

* * *

Meanwhile, on Nemesis...

"Fellow Decepticons, while our loyalty to Megatron's command has always remained steadfast, our leader's recent behavior has been questionably at best. And it was seem as though Earth has become nothing short of a failed experiment," Airachnid began her speech to the gathering Decepticon army.

"Commander Airachnid, you're not suggesting we abandon Lord Megatron?" Knock Out asked the spider bot.

"Despite Soundwave's best efforts, we have been unable to detect his signals. Megatron is either permanently offline or in the thrall of Unicron. Neither is in the best interest of the Decepticons. So I am deeming an exodus to be the most prudent course of action," Airachnid declared. "Unless anyone has a problem with that." And much to her delight, the troops seemed not to have any. "Set course for Regulon 4," Airachnid ordered to Soundwave.

But, the quiet bot just stomped his feet and faced Airachnid directly. No one really knew about exactly what Soundwave was thinking, but if he was pissed, anybody could tell.

"You have something to say, Soundwave?" Airachnid asked, but she already expected the silence as the answer. She decided to use force, as always, as she transformed to her spider mode. "I command this vessel. You will resume your post. Step aside!" the spider lady began to attack the surveillance Decepticon, but all of her attacks were easily blocked by him.

Soundwave grabbed Airachnid's neck, and flung her to the floor. To be honest, every Decepticon was impressed on how Soundwave could fight.

"I will tear out your spark for that!" the spider said grudgingly, but she realized that something was missing from Soundwave's chest. Lazerbeak was deployed, and he attacked her from behind. The metal bird successfully landed a perfect hit on Airachnid's chassis. Soundwave then pinned her head under his foot. "I...yield..."

Satisfied, Soundwave let Airachnid go, and resumed his duty.

"Watch out for the quiet one," Knock Out commented to Breakdown.

* * *

"Communication links are down. As expected, but we've lost their signal," Ratchet reported.

"Doesn't that mean…?" Rafael raised a question.

"Usually. But a more likely explanation would be the severe interference caused by these electromagnetic anomalies," the medic answered.

"So if we can't track them and they can't contact us..." the glass boy pondered.

"How are you gonna know when they're ready for pickup?" Miko finished for him.

Ratchet was about to answer, until he heard a metal clanging. The sound came from Jack tapping the key card to railing. Ratchet hardly believed his eyes. "Where did you get that?" Ratchet asked curiously.

"Optimus. Honestly, I don't know why he gave me the key to the GroundBridge power supply," Jack answered as he held up the key.

"Jack, there's no key to the GroundBridge," Ratchet told him.

"Then…what is this?" Jack asked, confused.

"That is the key to Vector Sigma," Ratchet answered.

"The what?!"

"You are holding one of Cybertron's most important relics," the Autobot medic explained.

"I...I shouldn't have this," Jack stuttered as he went to hand the key to Ratchet.

"Optimus entrusted it to you, Jack," Ratchet refused.

"But that doesn't make any sense? Why?" the teen boy pondered aloud.

It dawned to Ratchet. "Because he doesn't plan on coming back..."

* * *

The purple bats were following the team whenever they went, and their number was just ridiculously increasing.

_**"Megatron, do as I command!"**_the Chaos Bringer voiced inside Megatron. _**"DESTROY THE PRIME AND REINCARNATION OF PARTHONUS!"**_

Megatron cried out in pain as Unicron attacked his processor. But, he was determined not to follow what Unicron said. His pride didn't allow him to break the promise he made to Optimus' team. Only a low level being could break his own vow.

"Megatron!" Optimus was rather concerned by his nemesis' condition.

"Oh my..." Aria walked closer as she was drawn by Megatron's pained scream. "Don't tell me, you're going nuts?"

"Unicron's spark lies just beyond," Megatron finally regained the control of himself. He motioned Optimus and Aria to follow him.

"How do we get inside?" Optimus asked.

"By fooling Unicron's defenses into believing we're not a threat," Megatron answered. As he walked closer to the chamber, the dark energon shard inside him activated the door to open.

"Here's the scary part," Aria said as she was being pushed back by unseen force from the chamber.

"Autobots, I need you to keep the antibodies at bay for as long as you can!" Optimus ordered.

"Let's go father!" Aria knew it was the time for their action. As both of them entered the chamber, the rest of the team continued to fight, for their leader and the future of Earth.

* * *

But as they got inside, Aria's body began to spark purple and white. She winced in pain, and having hard time to stand up.

"Aria!" Optimus was alarmed.

"...Unicron really hates me, father..." the girl knew that it was Unicron's rejection for her presence near his spark. "Just don't worry about me...you just go ahead!" she urged her father to move first.

"I will not abandon you, my daughter," Optimus replied as he helped his daughter to walk.

"No, no time for this," Aria gently pushed her father's hand away. "Just go! I'll follow you from behind..." she held herself from screaming.

The Prime was very concerned about Aria, he immediately regretted of bringing her to such dangerous place. But, everything had happened, and he had little choices. Reluctantly, he dashed ahead of Aria, catching up with Megatron.

"Augh...!" the pain inside Aria's spark was getting intense for every step the girl took. "You really think you can scare me away with this...?!" she took deep breath and once again burned her energon to the peak. It was already the seventh times she did that, the more she did that, more short the time limit of it. Aria knew she too, had very little choices. When she still had the strength to move, she popped out her wheels and chased Optimus.

Megatron was already in front of Unicron's very spark. It was big, and shining brightly in purple. Optimus soon joined his side. But it wasn't the time for sight seeing.

"Optimus! Swiftly!" Megatron urged the Prime.

Aria just arrived at the place, when Optimus stepped forward to do his task. When she was in front of the spark, Aria felt very nasty inside her. Unicron really hated the presence of White Cybertronian inside his body. The spark retaliated by firing purple waves everywhere, hitting the three by it. The sensation was unbearable, as if it could kill them in one shot. "Father!" Aria struggled to stand up, but at the time like these, the power of the Saint was needed. Aria decided to do it, she roared as she engulfed herself in bright white light.

"The power of divine protection, Parthonus the White..." Megatron commented as the white aura began to battle the purple aura. Even he was amazed, just how this little girl could get such massive power. She might be the reincarnation of the Saint, but she was still a young femme.

"Scrap...!" Aria fell to her knees, her body was just getting heavier and heavier. Unicron was way too powerful for her.

_**"Megatron, destroy the Prime and the Saint! I command you!"**_Once again, Megatron was being invaded. This time, it was powerful, his body moved against his will. He walked closer to Optimus, and unsheathed his blade. But, his will was stronger.

"MEGATRON IS COMMANDED BY NO ONE!" he roared.

_Protect the Prime..._

_Protect everyone you hold dear, my child..._

Parthonus' voice also echoed inside Aria's mind, eventually made the girl standing up once again. "I know, Parthonus..." she answered. "So, just this once, lend me your power! Lend me every bit OF IT!" she screamed as she put her feet, and unleashed another, but very powerful white aura waves. She used the white wave to cast out Unicron from Megatron's body. "FATHER!" with renewed vigor and spirit, the girl dashed to Optimus' side. She immediately transferred her white aura to the last Prime.

Optimus widened his eyes as he felt the warm and powerful aura entering his body, healing and rejuvenated him. "Aria...!" but, he was concerned of his daughter's health. She was clearly pushing herself over limit.

"Stand up, father! Do what you're supposed to do, when I will do mine as well..." Aria said as she turned around and stood protectively behind the Prime. Megatron was down, but she knew that Unicron would do just everything to destroy both of them. With a roar, Aria burned her white energon to produce white flame engulfing her body. She channeled Parthonus' other ability, and casted a white barrier around her and Optimus.

_**"The force field! The sacred ability of the Protector!"**_Unicron took the control of unconscious Megatron.

"The very ability that made the Saint as legend..." Optimus stared in awe at the white force field, he now knew why Parthonus was named 'the Protector'.

"Father, just do it, NOW!" Aria urged the Prime.

Optimus nodded, he knew he had to do it fast. "Matrix of Leadership, I call upon you!"

_**"Parthonus, you did the thing again, the very thing that ended your life millennia ago, in our fight!"**_the Chaos Bringer smirked as he noticed the girl.

Optimus stopped in middle of his action, the thing that ended Parthonus' life in the previous battle between Unicron and Primus?

_**"I can feel it from you, you used all of your blood to cast this barrier! And as your natural fuel was running out, you finally chose to burn your spark, your very own life**** force!"**_Unicron added further. _**"The ability that only you possessed it, and eventually would kill you sooner than later..."**_

The Prime widened his eyes upon hearing this. So that was why, Aria could restore her stamina even though she shouldn't have any energy left inside her body. He came upon shocking revelation, that girl was burning her own life force! "ARIA!" he cried out.

"Listen big bull, Parthonus may be inside me, but I'm not Parthonus!" Aria yelled with cracky voice, as the white aura on her body got brighter. "However, my duty remained the same! _I will protect the Prime and the universe!" _the voice of she spoke, it was Parthonus the Origin White. "...Even if it cost my life!"

"Aria! NO!" Optimus shouted in desperate tone. "You cannot do this!"

"Father, do it! I'll watch your back!" the girl already burned everything in her, even her own life force wasn't unlimited. "Destroy the spark of Unicron! Put him down for good!" but she didn't care, as she knew it was her duty and destiny, protecting the Disciple of Primus, and the world.

_**"You cannot defeat us, Disciple of Primus and Reincarnation of Parthonus. I am transcended physical beings. By my will alone, ALL UPON THIS WORLD SHALL FALL INTO CHAOS!"**_the Chaos Bringer decided to deliver killing blow.

"Not while we still function, Unicron!" Optimus announced, as he stood on his feet. He had to do it fast, before his daughter killed herself by using all of her life force. "THE POWER OF THE MATRIX AND WILL LIGHT OUR DARKEST HOUR!" Optimus finally casted out the Matrix inside him.

"**_NO!"_ **through Megatron, Unicron tried to stop the Prime from killing his spark.

"You are not going through!" Aria powered up her force field and eventually she managed to throw Megatron/Unicron far away, far from Optimus.

Finally, a bright light shot out from Optimus' chest to Unicron's spark. The Chaos Bringer was roaring in pain as the majestic light slowly destroyed him, for good.

_**"NOOOOOO!"**_

As the spark of Unicron was finally extinguished, Optimus collapsed and lost consciousness, so did Aria. But, Aria could hear last words from Unicron as she passed out.

**_This is not the end, definitely not, for between you and me, Parthonus. You always thought yourself as immortal. If you are to reborn within the mortals, then I shall return to the world like you do. One day, I promise..._**

* * *

Outside the spark chamber, as Unicron was extinguished, all of the antibody bats were dead as well. The three Autobots sighed in relief, they knew that they had succeeded.

* * *

The volcano finally stopped throwing dark energon from its belly. Tornadoes, quakes, all of the natural disasters stopped as well. The dark cloud vanished, revealing the bright sun in the sky. The Earth was saved from apocalypse.

Back on the Autobot base, everyone knew it, that a miracle has happened.

"There could be aftershocks," June warned.

"Do you think…?" Jack asked as the computers came back to life.

"I do," Ratchet nodded.

With the computers back to life, all of Autobots' signals were back on line too. They knew it, the team had succeeded saving the Earth. They couldn't help but jumping in joy, even Fowler gave his hug to June Darby.

* * *

Back on Nemesis, Megatron's signal was also coming back in Soundwave's monitor.

* * *

_You did it, my child. __As my reincarnation, your duty is finally over. __But as my successor, it is not over yet..._

Those words slowly brought Aria's consciousness back. Her vision was blurry, but her other senses were already back. She recollected every thing that happened before. After remembering that they had succeeded in putting out Unicron's spark, she allowed herself to smile. Then she touched her chest. The sea-green femme could feel it, that the mighty power she possessed before, was already slumbered away. She knew, that Parthonus let her using the Saint's divine protection because the time called for it, no more.

"Thank you, for letting me using your power, Parthonus the Saint Protector..." she whispered weakly. Aria also knew, that she still carried the duty of protector, inherited by Parthonus herself. She would continue to protect, for the rest of her life.

Aria heard a groan and footstep, she used her hands to support herself. She was in shock as Megatron was standing in front of Optimus who was still laying on the ground, few meters from her position. "Father...! No!" she knew it, their alliances was over and the Decepticon leader was back to old business. She struggled to stand up, but her body just refused to move. "Scrap...!"

She was expecting Optimus to speak, but not this thing...

"Where are we, Megatronus?" he asked.

Megatron was surprised, but Aria was beyond shocked. _What...?_ she couldn't believe it, Optimus was addressing Megatron by his old name? She was seeing the scene from far, in disbelief.

"Don't you remember, brother?" Megatron asked as he helped Optimus to his feet.

"Don't tell me..." Aria already could guess what happened to her father, but she didn't really want to believe it.

The rest of the Autobots finally crashed their way to Optimus' place.

"Aria!" Arcee immediately spotted her student and helped her to stand up. "Are you okay?"

"Optimus, are you okay?" Bulkhead asked worriedly.

"Why did he call me that?" the red mech asked in confusion.

"What did you do to him?!" Arcee demanded to Megatron.

"Father...he doesn't recognize us!" Aria whispered in shaky voice, she was shaking in Arcee's arm.

Not for long, a GroundBridge from Nemesis opened up behind Megatron and Optimus.

"Our mortal enemies! We're outnumbered! Go! I'll cover you!" Megatron urged the confused Autobot. Optimus eventually ran to the portal, and Megatron fired at the Autobot group.

Aria and the others leapt to dodge the fire, but she couldn't believe her eyes as Optimus was running to Decepticon's portal. "DON'T GO! FATHER!" she finally found a strength to stand up, she wanted to reach him. "FATHER!" she screamed at the top of her lung.

Bumblebee saw what the girl was doing, she was in Megatron's fire range. So the yellow mech pulled the sea-green femme and covered her with his body.

"BEE! Let me go! LET ME GO!" Aria struggled to break free from Bumblebee's grip. "LET ME GO!" she shrieked.

Optimus casted a last glance to the Autobots he didn't recognize, before disappearing to the portal, followed by Megatron.

"FATHER! NO!" Aria finally broke free and ran as fast as she could. But it was too late, the portal already closed. Arcee and the others hardly believed it, Optimus was gone, leaving his team...and his daughter. Aria was beyond shocked, her father was abandoning her. "No...!" she collapsed on her knees, completely devastated.

"_FATHER!"_

* * *

Ratchet finally opened the GroundBridge for the Autobots to return. All the humans were expecting very joyful news. Four Autobots returned, Aria in her human form, was carried by Arcee, as the girl was too shocked to stand on her feet.

"Arcee!" Jack called his guardian.

"I was worried, Bulk," Miko sighed in relief.

"You alright, Bee?" Raf asked worriedly.

"And…Optimus?" Ratchet was bracing himself for the worse, as he saw the ponytail girl was shaking on Arcee's arm. "Is he...?"

"Dead? No," Arcee shook her head, as she tightened her arms around the shocked Aria.

"But he looked right at us without recognizing us. Didn't even know his own name," Bulkhead told the shocking news.

It dawned to Ratchet. "When Optimus surrendered the Matrix of Leadership, he lost more than the collective Wisdom of the Primes. He lost his own memories..."

That statement made Aria burst into tears in Arcee's chassis. Optimus didn't remember any of his teammates? Even his daughter, his family...?_  
_

* * *

"Welcome back, Lord Megatron," Knock Out greeted happily as he and the troops bowed down before their master.

Megatron just nodded, before walking forward. That time, Optimus was revealed walking behind the Decepticon leader. Immediately, all Decepticon troops raised their guard and weapons.

"At ease, Breakdown. That is no way to welcome a long lost comrade," Megatron reprimanded, surprising everyone in the room. "Orion Pax is one of us."

* * *

The defeat of Unicron was supposed to be celebrated by the Autobots. But it couldn't be happening, because their beloved Optimus Prime, lost his memories and abandoned them.

Ratchet was checking over everybody's condition. Aside of mental condition, they were in perfect health. "Aria, come here," the medic motioned the girl to come.

The said girl was sitting on the couch area, surrounded by the humans. Miko was sitting on Aria's side, the girl desperately wanted to cheer her friend. But, it wasn't the time for joy moment, Aria just lost her father. True, Optimus was still alive and well, but...

"Aria, come here now!" the medic received no argument.

Aria sighed in defeat, but she was not in the mood for it. "No, Ratchet..." she refused as she walked down the platform. "Please, leave me alone for a moment..." the girl walked out of the base.

"Ratchet, just give her some moment," Arcee advised Ratchet. "This is the heavy blow for her, after all..." the blue motorcycle sighed sadly. She knew, Aria was taking it harder than all of them.

The ponytail girl went outside the base, it was almost nightfall. She sat on big rock, and watched the stars in the sky.

"It's a lie, isn't it...?" she buried her face on her knees. "You still remember me, don't you...father?" she started to sob. "Please...tell me that this is just a bad dream..." but she knew very well it was a reality. Optimus, her beloved father, wasn't in her side, when she needed him close to her at all the time. Now, Optimus was out of her reach, both of his body and soul.

Suddenly, she felt something strange inside her body. "What the...?" she questioned as she touched her chest. Suspicious, she deployed her syringe, and dropped several drips of her white energon on her palm. She hit the realization. Optimus lost his Prime status and his memories, as the cost of releasing Matrix of Leadership.

Aria too, received her own consequences after using so much of Parthonus' majestic power and burning her own life force to the limit. She could feel it, the power of Parthonus was slumbering altogether with Unicron's defeat. "Just give me a break...!" Aria held her head in desperation. "I've lost my father, the super power of Parthonus..." she sighed in defeat. "And now, I have to lose my white energon as well...?!" She realized it, her life as White Cybertronian was at risk.

* * *

To be continued in sequel...


End file.
